"The second approach is much broader, covering every social media user, and that’s tackling the way the platforms function. We have plenty of reporting and research that shows social media platforms are designed to be addictive — to ensure people spend more time on the app, thus generating more advertising profits. Social media platforms learned techniques from gambling companies to keep users hooked by using likes, notifications, and other methods to entice people to keep coming back, triggering dopamine responses that their brains craved even if the platforms made them feel worse at the same time.

Tackling those addiction design practices, dark patterns in interface design that nudge people to perform certain actions, and the way the platforms’ algorithms spread and amplify certain (often extreme or sensationalist) content to keep people engaged is a more difficult task than a hard age limit. Despite the country’s decision to move forward with an age limit, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has already been examining and reporting on platform design issues and the issues with algorithmic recommendation systems.

If we’re serious about minimizing the harms of social media platforms, design interventions and algorithmic limits are a much more promising approach."