Rob Galluzzo Says Govt’s Social Media Ban for Kids is an “Emotional” Win for 36 Months: “It Was Truly The Power of the People”

Rob Galluzzo, the CEO of production agency FINCH and co-founder of 36 Months, is emotional about Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to legislate a minimum social media age in response to 36 Months’ petitioning.

“It was more emotional than I think I was ready for,” he told LBB of the prime minister’s choice to agree with 36 Months that the minimum social media age should be 16. “We are taking them at their word but we’ll keep an eye on them. 

In a press conference late last week, the prime minister said social media is doing more harm to “our kids” than good. His aim with the legislation is to give an air cover to parents. “I want parents to be able to say: ‘Sorry, mate, it’s against the law.’”’

“We were able to do it within six months, it was truly the power of the people. This [social media] is the thing that keeps mums and dads up at night,” Rob said.   

He launched 36 Months in May with co-founder and Nova radio presenter Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli. Their aim was to instate a minimum age for social media citizenship to recognise the brain development that happens in the 36 months between 13 and 16, to “give them the time to work out who they are, before the world works out who they are,” as Rob told LBB during the early stages of the initiative.

The lobbying efforts of 36 Months “seems easy,” according to Rob, but in reality has taken a small group of people making an enormous amount of effort. The team got advice from the former premier of New South Wales, Dominic Perrottet, very early on in the process. 

“We shared our theory with him and he made a few adjustments. And he said, ‘Look, if this rolls out this way, it'll go into legislation this year and by the middle of next year, you'll have implementation,’” Rob said. 

Legislation “will be helpful”, he added, however it isn’t a “silver bullet,” but rather a “good step in the right direction.” 

In line with the prime minister’s press conference on Thursday, the 36 Months team, including Rob, travelled to Canberra to deliver the petition with 125,000 signatures. They went to the nation’s capital with family members of young people who have died by suicide following social media bullying, and spoke with the prime minister and opposition leader Peter Dutton. 

 

“We got to really look at the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition together and they were actually in alignment, and so is Michelle Rowland, the minister for communication,” Rob explained 

“She joined us and we were ready to be a bit punchy, and we didn't need to be. If we take them at their word, they are going to work together and get this done quickly.”  

The acceleration of the 36 Months initiative is a lesson in communication, Rob added. He gave credit to Supermassive’s Simone Gupta, who has led comms for the cause, for not only “always having her finger on the pulse but also leading us through.” 

“She'd throw up a softball, and Wippa would hit it out of the park. Truthfully, for most of it, I'm just clapping. The entire team is small but really good. They're very powerful and mighty. They know that at times you need a blow horn and sometimes you need a whisper.”

Meta was quick to react to the proposed changes in September by releasing ‘Instagram Teen,’ an extension of the current social media platform that will allow for more parental control and insight into their children's online profile. The 36 Months founders called this a “very, very soft offering”. 

Antigone Davis, head of safety at Meta, said in response to the government’s confirmation it will legislate a minimum age, “We respect any age limitations the government wants to introduce for social media use. However, what’s missing is a deeper discussion on how we implement protections, otherwise we risk making ourselves feel better, like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place.”

Meta MD Will Easton added “parental consent and age verification should happen at the app store and operating system level. And we believe it should be required under Australian law.” 

“When setting up their teen’s phone today, parents can already share their teen’s age and set up approval for app store purchases - let’s just use those existing systems, not complicated, time-intensive new ones,” he said in a Linkedin post. 

Both Rob and the prime minister understand that there will be ways for children to get around the law, however, the legislation will make it harder. 

“I left Canberra feeling really encouraged,” Rob said. 

“There is still a long way to go and we will continue to use the public eye to ensure that the government does the right thing.”