{"id":298199,"date":"2025-10-12T20:58:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T20:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/298199\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T20:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T20:58:17","slug":"social-media-ban-will-further-isolate-regional-and-rural-youth-lgbtiqa-advocates-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/298199\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media ban will further isolate regional and rural youth, LGBTIQA+ advocates say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young people and advocates are warning that the upcoming social media ban<\/a> will leave regional LGBTIQA+ teenagers without vital access to support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For 16-year-old Abbie Jane, social media offered her a reprieve from the intense homophobia she faced at her regional school in Broken Hill, which is more than 500 kilometres from the closest capital city.<\/p>\n

“Growing up in a regional area felt really isolating,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It feels like you’re completely alone in an area where you can’t find like-minded people, and you’re so far away from the rest of the world.”<\/p>\n

\"Abbie<\/p>\n

Abbie Jane said her experience online was vastly different to her experience at school. (ABC Mid North Coast: Marina Trajkovich)<\/p>\n

Abbie was just 12 years old when she began to experience “relentless” homophobic bullying at school.<\/p>\n

It had a significant impact on her mental health.<\/p>\n

“I was standing with my principal and I started to raise the pride flag and this group of year 10 boys came up and started swearing and hurling homophobic abuse at me,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I remember being so terrified.<\/p>\n

“I was stuck in a constant cycle of hatred, and it was horrible.”<\/p>\n

During this time, Abbie used social media to start the Rainbow Shoelace Project, giving away packs of pride coloured shoelace beads to people in her town.<\/p>\n

\"Abbie<\/p>\n

Abbie Jane started the Rainbow Shoelace Project to improve queer visibility in Broken Hill. (ABC Mid North Coast: Marina Trajkovich)<\/p>\n

She said the response to her project on social media was the reason she made it through that period of her teenage life.<\/p>\n

“My safe place was going online,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Abbie said.<\/p>\n

“It made me feel for the first time so proud of who I was.<\/p>\n

“Without social media, I wouldn’t have been able to create that thing that basically saved my life.”<\/p>\n

Ban due in December<\/p>\n

From December 10 this year, under-16s will be banned<\/a> from social media.<\/p>\n

The government has not yet settled on exactly which platforms will be included in the ban.<\/p>\n

However, it said platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube meet many of the legislation’s conditions that define age-restricted services.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Social media has provided regional teenagers with connections to other queer people. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

The online safety regulator, eSafety, has requested self-assessments from other popular platforms, such as WhatsApp, Roblox, Discord and Steam, to determine if they should also be included.<\/p>\n

While the ban was introduced to reduce harm to young people online, the issue is more complex for young members of the LGBTIQA+ community.<\/p>\n

LGBTQIA+ community support services<\/a><\/p>\n

We’ve compiled this list of national and state-based support services relevant to LGBTQIA+ people, their families and friends.<\/p>\n

LGBTQIA+ charity Minus18 surveyed nearly 1,000 queer youth<\/a> on their social media use earlier this year, finding 91 per cent of participants said social media helped them find queer friends and 82 per cent believed a social media ban would leave them disconnected.<\/p>\n

“There’s a bit of a tension between \u2026 preventing us from harm but also preventing us from finding community,” SA Rainbow Advocacy Alliance chief executive Varo Lee said.<\/p>\n

\"Varo<\/p>\n

SA Rainbow Advocacy Alliance CEO Varo Lee says young people want better regulation and moderation of social media platforms that could benefit all users. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

“Being LGBTQI+ can make people feel different or isolated, and that’s exacerbated in regional areas where they don’t necessarily have that queer visibility.<\/p>\n

“What we’re hearing from young people is if we’re taking that away, what are we giving back?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

‘LGBT+ people will be cut off’<\/p>\n

Kelsey Van der Woude is 15 and will have her social media accounts go dark this December.<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs help:<\/p>\n