Nova radio star Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli has slammed Instagram’s new ‘teen accounts’ feature as a ‘watered-down’ solution to Australia’s mental health crisis.
Meta’s app on Tuesday announced new safety features that will send all Australian teens to special accounts for the next 60 days.
The accounts will limit who can see and message users between the ages of 13 and 17, limit users’ exposure to inappropriate content, and improve parental controls.
The built-in protections can only be changed or disabled with parental permission.
The 44-year-old Nova 96.9 breakfast host and child protection campaigner told Daily Mail Australia that the ability for parents to remove protections significantly reduced the effectiveness of the new accounts.
“At 36 months we will take every positive step to protect children online. Unfortunately, we see this as a bit of a soft offer,” the father of three said.
“It doesn’t really solve the problem we have.
“It’s like getting a show bag without going to the show itself: it’s just symbolic.”
Nova star Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli (pictured with fellow 36 Months campaigners Hamish Blake and Robb Evans) says Instagram’s new ‘teen accounts’ need to do more to protect children
Meta has introduced a range of new safety features that will restrict who can see and message users aged 13-17, and limit their access to inappropriate content
Together with Rob Galluzzo, CEO of the production company, he advocates raising the age limit for access to social media from 13 to 16 years.
The petition, titled 36 Months, has collected more than 115,000 signatures in support of the change and was recently presented to the New South Wales Parliament.
His organization believes the strict age limit will allow sensitive teens to “get to know themselves before the rest of the world does.”
According to Wippa, children are likely to pressure their parents to disable safety features.
“It puts pressure on parents — and that’s one of the things we’re trying to alleviate. Parents often feel like if the kid’s parents across the street say it’s OK, they have to do it too. Otherwise, they’ve got an angry kid on their side,” he said.
“We need to take the pressure off parents and children who fear they will become socially isolated if they are the only ones not online.”
The radio star described social media as a “sensitivity amplifier” during an already incredibly emotional time in young people’s lives.
“We want everyone to know that it is a sensitive time growing up,” Wippa said.
‘If social media had been around when I was 13, it would have been an extremely difficult time. We want children to develop as well as possible.
“If we could free up some space, they could use that time to learn lessons, develop resilience, self-esteem and connectedness.
‘All those crucial things that are so important at that stage of development.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised earlier this month to introduce a bill to raise the age limit for social media.
Wippa believes that with this move, Australia can lead the way for other Commonwealth countries in tackling teen social media use.
“Our biggest development was the prime minister announcing that he would bring about change in November,” he said.
“That was the biggest development and the bravest step we have ever seen to protect our children in this dangerous time.
‘The Prime Minister can lead the Commonwealth and stand on an international stage and say, “This is not good enough for our children. We will not accept this in Australia because it is damaging to our children.”
“Our children are on the edge right now, this requires urgency.”
Robb Evans lost his daughter Olivia (pictured together) to suicide last April after a years-long battle with anorexia, which was exacerbated by eating disorder “advice” on Instagram
Wippa (pictured presenting 115,000 signatures of 36 Months to parliament) believes that limiting Australian teenagers’ access to social media will dramatically improve their physical health
Compared to the demands of 36 Months and similar campaigns around the world, Wippa described Meta’s stories as “a peace offering” to parents.
He desperately wants the age limit for social media to be raised to 16 before his nine-year-old son can use the app, and that won’t happen for another four years.
“It is certainly not effective and does not provide the relief we have fought so hard for,” he said.
‘TThe last thing I want is to think that [my son]or any other child, is exposed to things he or she should not be involved with, or is approached in an inappropriate way.’
One of the people with the strongest emotional connection to the campaign is Robb Evans, who lost his daughter Olivia to suicide in April last year after a years-long battle with anorexia, exacerbated by eating disorder “advice” on Instagram.
Mr Evans described the teenage accounts on Instagram as “a positive start” but “not enough”.
“My daughter Liv was only 15 when her struggle with an eating disorder was highlighted on social media, leading to her tragic passing,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We cannot afford to compromise when it comes to the safety and mental health of our children.
‘Australia has an opportunity to set a global precedent by raising the age limit and ensuring social media is a space for safe, healthy development.
“This is a matter of national importance and I call on our government to be determined to secure the future of young Australians.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Evans – who lost his daughter Olivia to suicide in 2023 – described Instagram’s teenage accounts as “a positive start” but “not enough”
A spokesperson for Meta said it “disagrees” with criticism that its teen account updates are ineffective.
“We disagree that Instagram Teen Accounts does not relieve the burden on parents. This new feature gives parents more power and support,” he said.
“This new experience is designed to give parents peace of mind that their teens have the right protection. We’ve said for years that we want teens to have safe, age-appropriate online experiences.
Yesterday’s update builds on the years we’ve spent developing and launching more than 50 tools, features, and resources to support parents and teens using our apps.
‘For us at Instagram, parents come first. We believe parents know best and we leave the decision-making power to parents because parents know their teens better than any company, policymaker or government.
“We designed Instagram Teen Accounts to address the top concerns of parents, and we remain focused on doing so.”
Both Wippa and Mr Evans are opposed to the new update being seen as a compromise on their demands for the app to be more capable.
Increasing use of social media has been linked to mental health problems, cyberbullying, anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide among Australian teenagers.
36 Months co-founder Rob Galluzzo added that the new teen accounts are a clear sign that Meta is aware of the problems it has contributed to.
“It appears that Meta has listened to this call and has taken some positive steps,” he said.
‘Ideally, the government should not have to intervene and make commitments to introduce legislation to change the minimum age.
‘Social media platforms should have taken the lead on this. I think they missed an opportunity here to build trust with parents.
’36 Months has helped bring social media out of cyberspace and into a national conversation about health. It has given parents a voice.’
