There has rightly been a lot of talk this week about what Australia’s teenagers see and do online.

Bullying, body image issues, and violence against women and girls are problems that have taken on a whole new shape through social media.

Data out last week from researchers at three Australian universities also found that, aside from family and friends, social media is the main source of news for 13-17 year olds, with 41 per cent getting news from AI too.

In this respect, the kids aren’t too different from the rest of us. The 2026 Digital News Report found that for the first time, more Australians were getting their news from social media than from news sites directly.

This means it is social media platforms and their algorithms that increasingly control what news stories get seen, and by whom.

That is why I say that the government’s shake up of social media algorithms as part of its Digital Duty of Care, announced this week, is not just for the kids. If done right, it has the potential to ward off serious threats to our democracy.

A teenager who turns 16 today and signs up to social media will most likely be old enough to vote come our next federal election, due by May 2028.

It’s fair to say their fellow gen Z voters – as well as most of gen X and Y and a good chunk of boomers – will have had their political views shaped to a large degree by what is served up in their social media........

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