That's it for our special Your Say: The Digital Dilemma blog

And that's all the problems with the internet solved, we did it, everyone. Obviously not! 

There is a lot more discussion to be had about the social media ban for children before it comes into place on December 10, but that's all the time we've got for now. 

Thank you so much for joining us all day across every single one of the 53 ABC Local Radio stations and on ABC News Channel, and for everyone commenting on the blog and sharing throughout the day. 

Keep it locked to your local ABC station for many more conversations. It has been excellent to hear from you, and until we do it again, ciao for now. 

'The main concern is that it's acclimatising young people to produce digital ID online'

Panellist John Pane, chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia, said he will be monitoring the horizon for data breach events and the impact on adult users. 

"The main concern is that it's acclimatising young people to produce digital ID online, you're training young people to be more accepting of sharing credentials online," he said.

Consequences for companies, not kids

Philip says the problem with panellist Emma Mason’s statement is that society works by punishing those who break rules. 

Is she saying action will be taken against kids who circumvent this ban? If not it is unenforceable and nonsense.
- Philip

It's worth noting that there won't be fines or penalties for young people or their families if they gain access to the platforms. 

However, there WILL be consequences for the social media companies if they are found to have not taken "reasonable steps" to ensure there are no workarounds.

If they don't enforce the ban, they could face fines of up to $50 million.

You can read more on this below

'Look to measure success via popping the hood'

ABC national technology reporter, Ange Lavoipierre said we can measure success by having social media companies be transparent with the e-safety commissioner. 

"They [social media companies] will have to report back," Ange said.

"I think if we know anything is that this ban is not in its final form - it's a work in progress and it should be," she said. 

Can we repair broken trust after privacy and data breaches

Raf asks why should we trust the government when data breaches are common? 

Panellist and Melbourne MP Josh Burns said broadly "privacy and your own data is a big risk in this day and age no matter what" and "people should be cautious of giving data to any program". 

"Social media companies are going to have to come to the table on how."

Experts worry appeal process provides opportunity for data leak

Even if you provide proof of your age, there is still a chance you could be mistakenly identified as under 16, resulting in your account being blocked.

Part of the social media ban legislation requires that there be a straightforward process for appealing such assessments. However, John Pane, chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia, is worried that this could lead to data leaks.

"More often than not, these big huge companies with their resources,  they'll outsource this [manual review process] to a third-party. This is where the risk lies."

We’ve seen something similar happen in the UK. Discord, a free communication platform, has to comply with the UK's Age Verification Act. Just a month after the act kicked in, 70,000 underage Discord accounts were flagged for a manual review.

"They outsourced that to a third-party company, that third-party didn't have good security practices. They were breached and lost 70,000 records."

Why have a rule if it's easy to get around?

Panellist Emma Mason says that just because it's easy to get around a rule, doesn't mean the rule shouldn't exist. 

We have rules around alcohol, cigarettes ... putting your seatbelt on when you drive. 

We have all these rules and people flaunt them all the time but that doesn’t mean you don’t have them because we, as a society, need to manage our people and these companies have been monetising our children.

Josh Burns echoed this point, saying we shouldn't shy away from introducing new rules because we're scared it won't be done perfectly right from the start.  Issues will be worked out in due course but the first step is to just TRY something.  

'How will the government ensure this improves mental health for young people?'

Albert is 14 years old and is in the audience at the Your Say: Digital Dilemma forum. 

"How will the government ensure this ban will improve youth mental health, rather than just push them to less regulated places online?"

Professor Patrick McGorry responds to Albert by saying that by focusing on social media it might actually distract from the important issues facing youth mental health. 

"We spent four years looking at the issues underpinning the youth mental health crisis and social media was a minor player in that," said Professor McGorry

"Not to say it doesn't have an effect but it might distract from the real serious causes."

"So a provocative question then!" Raf Epstein

A couple of you would prefer a government ID check in place

Thanks for your comments Ellen  there is a proposed system in place for a 'tokenised' Digital ID rather than handing it over to the social media platforms to do their own checks.

Surely a government agency can be set up to check a person's age and provide a 'certificate' that can be presented to media platforms without them accessing the person's private information. 

- Ellen

And Himansu has a similar suggestion

Can the social media companies use a govt agency or an approved government agency to verify the age instead of social media companies themselves. So we can chase fewer companies instead of a whole lot.

- Himansu

Will this impact digital literacy in young people?

Olivia wants to know how young people will become digitally literate if they can't access social media until later in their teen years.  Will it impact their online safety? 

What happens when these people turn 16? If they are not set up to learn and use social media safely then when they turn 16 it could be worse than it currently is. How will the government set young people up to use social media safely once they turn 16?

- Olivia

One Concerned Adult also wonders if this will ultimately put young Australians on the back foot.  

Australia may be creating a generation of young people who are disadvantaged because they are less active and informed online compared to other comparable countries.

- Anon