ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has delivered a speech to a summit examining the harmful effects of social media platforms on children.
Mr Burgess told the summit that “all” of the nation’s most recent terror cases “were allegedly perpetrated by young people”, including one as young as 14.
# What’s next?
The security chief says there is a need for “more research”, adding that ASIO is working with its security partners on a paper on the subject.
**In a sobering warning** about the impact of social media on deological radicalisation among children, ASIO’s director-general has expressed concern that artificial intelligence will “accelerate the acceleration” of extremism.
“The internet was a factor in every single one of these incidents, albeit to different degrees and in different ways,” he said.
Mr Burgess said that, during a COVID peak, teenagers “represented around 50 per cent” of ASIO’s counter-terrorism caseload — a figure that declined before a more recent “disturbing resurgence”.
“Around 20 per cent of our priority counter-terrorism cases involve minors,” he said.
“In one generation, we have allowed our children full access to alleyways, content and people that they would not be able to access in the physical world.”
Mr Burgess said that ASIO involvement in a case of youthful extremism was “usually” a sign that it was “too late” for other forms of intervention.
“As a nation, we need to reflect on why some teenagers are hanging Nazi flags and portraits of the Christchurch killer on their bedroom walls, and why others are sharing beheading videos in the schoolyard and, more concerningly, why there are young Australians willing to kill in the name of their beliefs,” he said.
While the ASIO chief expressed reluctance to become involved in social media policymaking, and wanted to keep his remarks within “ASIO’s lane — the national security implications”, he said the agency was working with its security partners on a paper on the subject of terrorism and young people.
“Any proposal to regulate social media must, of course, balance free speech, free choice and [the] free market, and we need more research,” he said.
“[But] no form of technology, no corner of the internet, should be above the rule of law. Social media cannot be without a social licence.”
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# In short:
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has delivered a speech to a summit examining the harmful effects of social media platforms on children.
Mr Burgess told the summit that “all” of the nation’s most recent terror cases “were allegedly perpetrated by young people”, including one as young as 14.
# What’s next?
The security chief says there is a need for “more research”, adding that ASIO is working with its security partners on a paper on the subject.
**In a sobering warning** about the impact of social media on deological radicalisation among children, ASIO’s director-general has expressed concern that artificial intelligence will “accelerate the acceleration” of extremism.
[At a summit examining the harmful effects of online platforms on young people](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/social-media-summit-told-of-need-for-global-crackdown/104459420), Mike Burgess spoke in broad terms about the ways in which social media and digital technologies were fuelling threats to national security.
[But Mr Burgess was emphatic that the problem was an especially pressing one for policymakers focused on education and child safety, pointing out that “all” of the nation’s most recent terror cases “were allegedly perpetrated by young people”, including one as young as 14.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/social-media-summit-told-of-need-for-global-crackdown/104459420)
“The internet was a factor in every single one of these incidents, albeit to different degrees and in different ways,” he said.
Mr Burgess said that, during a COVID peak, teenagers “represented around 50 per cent” of ASIO’s counter-terrorism caseload — a figure that declined before a more recent “disturbing resurgence”.
“Around 20 per cent of our priority counter-terrorism cases involve minors,” he said.
“In one generation, we have allowed our children full access to alleyways, content and people that they would not be able to access in the physical world.”
Mr Burgess said that ASIO involvement in a case of youthful extremism was “usually” a sign that it was “too late” for other forms of intervention.
“As a nation, we need to reflect on why some teenagers are hanging Nazi flags and portraits of the Christchurch killer on their bedroom walls, and why others are sharing beheading videos in the schoolyard and, more concerningly, why there are young Australians willing to kill in the name of their beliefs,” he said.
While the ASIO chief expressed reluctance to become involved in social media policymaking, and wanted to keep his remarks within “ASIO’s lane — the national security implications”, he said the agency was working with its security partners on a paper on the subject of terrorism and young people.
“Any proposal to regulate social media must, of course, balance free speech, free choice and [the] free market, and we need more research,” he said.
“[But] no form of technology, no corner of the internet, should be above the rule of law. Social media cannot be without a social licence.”
!ping AUS&TECH
Not good