YouTube’s parent controls allowed me to set “age appropriate content” sort of(my kids are older) disabled comments, remove ads with premium. But they never allowed me to remove shorts or recommendations either for myself or my kids because they want the addiction dial set to 11. The government have made a mess of things but the companies are far from innocent. It’s a shame the govt went after age verification instead of consumer rights to disable all the crap. Very poorly advised. Big tech will come out of this stronger and more evil and will work out ways to target vulnerable people without logins.
Comment on Honest Government Ad | Social Media Ban
Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
Juice Media are always great, but this is excellent even by their standards. The fact that they lead with the fact that banning kids is just a patch on the real problem (which is harmful algorithms) is just bang on. Also highlighting the many beneficial things social media can do, the fact that the ban introduces major privacy risks, and the incredibly untransparent way in which it was rushed through Parliament.
shirro@aussie.zone 5 days ago
Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
But they never allowed me to remove shorts or recommendations either for myself or my kids
Enhancer for YouTube works on your computer. YouTube ReVanced works on Android phones, if you want these features.
shirro@aussie.zone 5 days ago
These are unofficial workarounds for features that could be regulated if esafety had a clue and weren’t working for the industry. Google could add options in acct settings and in family link. They don’t because they make more profit by driving engagement.
Kids will now watch YouTube without logins,.lose their hand picked educational subscriptions and get lowest common denominator engagement bait on their front page. The ALP just handed kids over to the bad guys. I am furious. I will probably block YT via DNS now because the gov took my parental control away. They clearly don’t give a fuck about my kids.
Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone 5 days ago
For my youngest I use pipepipe on an android tablet.
No ads.
No feed / recommendations.
Just the channels I subscribe to.
The final straw with stock android apps was years ago with my eldest when it showed an add for women’s g strings in the middle of a fucking educational video about cats.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
I don’t blame eSafety, to be honest. They can only do what the Parliament legislates for them to do. And Parliament has done a terrible job.
But yeah, they’re definitely unofficial workarounds. I agreed wholeheartedly with your prior comment, and just suggested these workarounds as good options you might find useful for yourself, personally. (While you’re at it, Sponsorblock, and potentially DeArrow, both of which are included as options in ReVanced or as separate browser extensions, are really great.)
melbaboutown@aussie.zone 4 days ago
I hope the search engine signin verification doesn’t make this annoying. I have no idea of the extent it affects the actual email address.
Context: An android I intended to use for Revanced requires a previous Gmail login to unlock the phone (although it’s brand new), and the sneaky workaround also hinges on the Gmail signin.
And it won’t make calls until unlocked so I can try to call from another phone with the IMEI number but if that doesn’t work… can’t use the phone.
If it’s too much of a stuff around I’ll just have to buy a secondhand unlocked android.
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 5 days ago
I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me that what should actually be done is regulation of the algorithms.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 days ago
Of course, we are talking about the same Government that commissioned a study into problem gambling, and then completely ignored it after it came back with 31 recommendations, including the phased-in banning of gambling advertising (recommendations 16 and 26). Two and a half years later, the Government has given no response. This despite the fact that they are required by House of Representatives rules to respond within 6 months. So actually solving problems, even when they’re given a clear roadmap to how to solve the problem, doesn’t seem to be high on Albanese’s agenda.
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 5 days ago
I’m not even Australian…Canadian. I just like chiming in because somebody down there is at least trying to do things…even if it’s usually shitty things.
Up here in my province in the last decade the flood gates opened on gambling…booze…everything. The government basically says “fuck you if we raise you to be an addict…give us your money until you die so rich people can pay less taxes”.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 days ago
Australia’s gambling problem is huge. We have 0.3% of the world’s population, but 18% of its poker machines. And 75% of the pokies outside of casinos. Nearly every pub, bowls club, RSL club, etc. has a room full of pokies. That’s allowed in every state except Western Australia, though it was banned in my home state until the '90s. I don’t know much about Canada, but I’ve heard there’s been a relatively recent surge in the problem of gambling over in America over the last few years. I believe it is the case that Australia led the world in allowing gambling to totally overrun professional sport, setting a template that America could follow, for the worse.
simon_ashdown@mastodon.social 4 days ago
@MyMindIsLikeAnOcean @Zagorath
But I doubt the government here is actually doing anything.
This Labor government tends to do a lot for show. Example the vote for the indigenous voice to parliament 2 years ago; they didn't even TRY to actually fight for it, but they can turn around and say "but we had the vote"
There are other examples, like anti corruption money in politics baloney that has accomplished nothing. But theu will still say THEY TRIED. Sigh..
Note I am a lifelong Labor voter. 😥