MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Wayne Holdsworth became an advocate for banning Australian children younger than 16 from social media because his son took his own life after falling victim to an online sextortion scam.
Mac Holdsworth died last year at his Melbourne family home at the age of 17 after a 47-year-old Sydney man who purported to be an 18-year-old woman demanded money for an intimate image the boy had shared.
Since then, the grieving father has taken his tragic story to around 20 schools to warn students of the risks of social media.
“I saw firsthand the damage that social media could do. I saw Mac, my son, get sexually extorted on social media,” Holdsworth said. “His mental health deteriorated at a rapid rate.”
Online predators began approaching the teenager before his 16th birthday and his father believes such a ban could have saved his life.
Australia's House of Representatives on Wednesday voted for such a ban and the Senate is expected to make it law soon.
Holdsworth said most of the 3,000 students he’s spoken to, from age 12 to 17, agree with a ban on children under the age of 16.
“They come up to me and they say, ‘I’m so glad that this is going to be implemented,’” Holdsworth said. “Even the kids see it now that they’re going to be protected from those predators outside that are preying on them.”
He said three girls approached him after a school address on Monday to tell him that they were being subjected to sextortion. One had already handed over 2,500 Australian dollars ($1,600) of her parents’ money to a blackmailer.
Holdsworth said he was the first adult they had confided in.
“The parent won’t know until the credit card statement comes out,” he said.
“So it’s prevalent. It happened last night and it’ll happen tonight,” he added.
Holdsworth described the government plan to ban children younger than 16 from social media as “absolutely essential for the safety of our children.”
But not all parents are convinced that banning young children from social media is the answer.
Critics say the legislation was rushed through Parliament without adequate scrutiny, would not work, would create privacy risks for users of all ages and would take away parents’ authority to decide what’s best for their children.
They also argue the ban would isolate children, deprive them of positive aspects of social media, drive children to the dark web, make children too young for social media reluctant to report harms they encounter, and take away incentives for platforms to make online spaces safer.
Independent Sydney lawmaker Kylea Tink on Tuesday became the first member of the House of Representatives to speak publicly against the bill, which would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.
“As a mom of three young adults ... I’m very aware of the negative impacts of social media and the challenges of parenting in this digital world,” Tink told Parliament. “I also recognize, however, that my children are digital natives and are very literate about how these platforms work. For this reason, I encourage everyone involved in this debate to ensure they are listening to the voices of young Australians when it comes to this decision-making process rather than assuming that the grownups in the room know best.”
Tink was among 13 lawmakers who voted against the bill in the House on Wednesday. They were overwhelmed by 102 legislators who voted for it.
The platforms have urged a Senate committee that examined the legislation on Monday to delay a vote until after a government-commissioned evaluation of age assurance technologies is completed next June.
The four-hour committee meeting on Monday attracted 15,000 written submissions.
X Corp. told the committee that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's platform had “serious concerns as to the lawfulness of the bill," including its compatibility with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“There is no evidence that banning young people from social media will work and to make it law in the form proposed is highly problematic,” X said.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the legislation was “inconsistent with what Australian parents have told us that they want, which is a simple and effective way for them to set controls and manage their teens’ online experience.”
Under the bill, parental consent for children to use social media does not override the ban.
Lizzie O’Shea, chair of the Digital Rights Watch charity, which aims to uphold the digital rights of Australians, said she was appalled by the process and limited timeframe the government used to pass such significant and contentious legislation.
She said she was very aware of the serious risks posed by social media platforms, "but I do not support a ban personally because I understand both the limits of that particular policy and the expert evidence that is coming out from people who work in this space about the problems for young people being excluded from those spaces,” O'Shea said.
Her concerns centered on privacy, negative mental health impacts on excluded children and the possibility that young children would find ways to access social media spaces that would become even less child friendly as a result of the ban.
“I’m profoundly aware of the dangers of large social media platforms running a certain kind of business model that prioritizes data extraction and exploitation of vulnerability over the public interest or the building of community and the protection of democracy," she said.
Swinburne University digital media expert Belinda Barnet, who supports the ban, feels she is part of a minority among professionals in the digital field.
“I like it mainly because I think many of the social media platforms as they exist right now are not suitable environments for young children,” she said.
In this October 2023 photo provided by the Holdsworth family, Wayne Holdsworth sits with his son Mac on a family holiday in Hawaii. (Maggie Holdsworth via AP)
In this October 2023 photo provided by the Holdsworth family, Wayne Holdsworth sits with his son Mac on a family holiday in Hawaii. (Maggie Holdsworth via AP)
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A prominent Bangladeshi Hindu leader who has been leading rallies demanding security for Hindus in the overwhelmingly Muslim nation was ordered detained on charges of sedition Tuesday.
The magistrate court of Kazi Shariful Islam denied bail to Krishna Das Prabhu and ordered him detained pending further proceedings.
One lawyer was killed and scores were injured after clashes broke out following Tuesday's court order.
As police attempted to transport the Hindu leader to jail, hundreds of his supporters surrounded the van carrying him, forcing it to stop for over an hour before security officials fired teargas to disperse the crowd. Protesters threw stones at police during a brief confrontation, before the way was cleared and Prabhu was taken to jail.
As the tension grew, live TV showed dozens of Muslims joining the security officials, chasing Hindu protesters and throwing stones at them.
The United News of Bangladesh news agency quoted a police official as saying that lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was hacked to death during the melee. Some reports blamed the Hindu protesters for the killing, but details were sketchy.
Hindus and members of other minority groups say they have faced more attacks than ever since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising in August and an interim government took over. The government says the threat to Hindus has been exaggerated.
Around 91% of Bangladesh’s population is Muslim, with Hindus making up almost all of the rest.
Prabhu, also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, faces charges of sedition filed in October after he led a huge rally in Chattogram in which he was accused of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag.
He was arrested in Dhaka’s main airport on Monday while traveling to Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh.
Kushal Baran Chakrabarty, who was accompanying Prabhu at the time of his arrest, said that several detectives took the Hindu leader to a police car at the airport.
“Chinmoy Prabhu gave his phone to me as he was forcefully taken to the police car. The police detectives jostled with us to forcefully take his phone and they took it away. We then followed the police car that headed for the headquarters of the Detective Branch at Minto Road in Dhaka,” he said. “We stayed outside the Detective Branch’s office.”
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, an umbrella organization of the country's minority groups, denounced the arrest of Prabhu in a statement and demanded his release.
India's Ministry of External Affairs expressed “deep concern” in a statement on Tuesday.
“This incident follows the multiple attacks on Hindus and other minorities by extremist elements in Bangladesh. There are several documented cases of arson and looting of minorities’ homes and business establishments, as well as theft and vandalism and desecration of deities and temples,” the statement said.
It also condemned attacks on peaceful protests by Hindus.
“We urge Bangladesh authorities to ensure the safety and security of Hindus and all minorities, including their right of freedom of peaceful assembly and expression,” the ministry wrote.
Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday night criticized the reaction by India, saying that the issue was the “internal affairs” of Bangladesh.
“It is with utter dismay and deep sense of hurt that the government of Bangladesh notes that the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das has been misconstrued by certain quarters since Chinmoy Krishna Das has been arrested on specific charges,” its statement said.
Bangladesh also said that India's statement misrepresents facts and contradicts the spirit of friendship and understanding between the neighboring countries.
Also, India's statement does not reflect the harmony that exists among the peoples of all faiths and the commitment and the efforts of the government and the people in this regard, said the statement by Bangladesh.
Prabhu faces charges of sedition filed in October after he led a huge rally in Chattogram in which he was accused of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag. Dhaka-based leading Prothom Alo daily reported that Prabhu would be produced before a court on Tuesday, and that two other people have been arrested in the case.
On Tuesday, the Hindu leader was brought before the magistrate court of Kazi Shariful Islam in southeastern city of Chattogram, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported. The court was packed and dozens of lawyers stood for him to seek bail.
Since August, Prabhu has led several large rallies demanding safety for the Hindus, as the interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus said reports of attacks have been exaggerated.
Many in the interim government see the rallies by Hindus as a threat to stability and a ploy to rehabilitate Hasina and her Awami League party.
The long-ruling secular party is seen as a protector of the Hindu minority and has close ties to neighboring India. Hundreds of Hasina’s supporters, including many close aides, are believed to have fled to India after her fall.
Prabhu is a prominent Hindu leader and a respected figure. He is a member of the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group. He is also associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, widely known as the Hare Krishna movement, and acts as a spokesman for the group in Bangladesh.
On Tuesday, authorities in Dhaka and Chattogram deployed paramilitary border guards, apparently to avert any violence.
Prabhu's followers took to the streets in Chattogram and Dhaka to demand his release on Monday.
In Dhaka, a mob armed with sticks attacked Hindu protesters on Monday night at Shahbagh intersection near the Dhaka University.
Kalbela, a Bengali-language daily, said in a video report on Monday night that the attackers drove the Hindu protesters away from the area.
Hasina fled the country on Aug. 5 after a student-led protest morphed into a mass uprising, ending her 15-year rule. The country's security agencies are struggling to keep order as the police agencies remained demoralized after dozens of their members were killed during the mass uprising in July and August.
Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu shows a victory sign as he is taken in a police van after court ordered him detained pending further proceedings in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
Supporters of Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu surround the van carrying the leader after court ordered him detained pending further proceedings in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
Policemen charge baton to disperse the supporters of Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu after they surrounded police van carrying their leader at the court premises, in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu shows a victory sign as he is taken in a police van after court ordered him detained pending further proceedings in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
