Social media’s evils to be examined by parliamentary committee this week

The Albanese government’s parliamentary committee into the outsized influence and impact of social media in the lives of Australians will meet for the first time this week.

A 12-member Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society was established last month initially to examine Meta’s decision to walk away from the news bargaining code.

The committee, chaired by Federal Labor MP Kate Thwaites, will also look into the legalities and likelihood of raising the age of using social media platform to 16, as well as disinformation spread via the various platforms.