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12-10-2025, 02:51 PM
Wayne Holdsworth, the father of Mac, who took his life at 17 after being targeted by a sexual extortion scam on social media, joined other parents who’d lost children to suicide at a select gathering at the prime minister’s official residence in Sydney.
“It’s really sad. I shouldn’t be here because he should have been protected,” Holdsworth told CNN at the event to mark the law, which came into effect hours earlier. “I should have known more. He should have known more.”
For Australia’s Labor government, the ban is a political win that’s gaining international attention and puts it at the forefront of what appears to be global momentum to rein in the reach and influence of social media platforms.
“This is Australia leading the world. This is Australia responding to what is a global issue,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told CNN.
“We know that social harm is being caused, and therefore we have a responsibility as a government to respond to the pleas of parents and respond as well to the campaign of young people saying, just let us be kids.”His comments came as 10 platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, suspended or deleted the accounts of children under 16 under new laws that threaten multimillion-dollar fines for tech companies that don’t take “reasonable steps” to keep children off social media.
“It’s really sad. I shouldn’t be here because he should have been protected,” Holdsworth told CNN at the event to mark the law, which came into effect hours earlier. “I should have known more. He should have known more.”
For Australia’s Labor government, the ban is a political win that’s gaining international attention and puts it at the forefront of what appears to be global momentum to rein in the reach and influence of social media platforms.
“This is Australia leading the world. This is Australia responding to what is a global issue,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told CNN.
“We know that social harm is being caused, and therefore we have a responsibility as a government to respond to the pleas of parents and respond as well to the campaign of young people saying, just let us be kids.”His comments came as 10 platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, suspended or deleted the accounts of children under 16 under new laws that threaten multimillion-dollar fines for tech companies that don’t take “reasonable steps” to keep children off social media.
