Most of us have attended sex-ed classes in school. If we’re lucky, we’ll learn about consent and how to roll a condom onto a banana. But the classroom rarely goes into the specifics of sexual health and wellbeing – including what to do when a condom breaks.
Where can you get the morning-after pill in your local area? What about post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV? When do you need testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)? And where to find support if the test comes back positive?
Governments, community health organisations, peer-led health networks and commercial services use social media to share essential sexual health information with young people and adults alike. This includes up-to-date, evidence-based information on HIV and STI testing and treatment, and the latest on reproductive health care.
Online outreach of this kind has been widely recognised as a low-cost, accessible means of providing sexual and reproductive health content to those whose needs aren’t always met by traditional school-based education or legacy media outlets.
Current online safety rules are focused on removing harmful content, not on supporting health promotion. Unfortunately, sexual health content is often flagged as “against community standards” and suppressed by platforms – a practice known as shadowbanning.
But Australia’s promised new “digital duty of care” provides an opportunity to remedy that, creating a safe and healthy online environment for all.
What is a digital duty of care?
A digital duty of care is sometimes referred to as “safety by design”. It will require social media platforms to establish risk management systems. They must identify potential risks from their services and take reasonable steps to prevent or mitigate serious harms.
It will apply to all online service providers. This includes social media services, messaging apps, online gaming services, online dating services, and search engines.
The duty will sit alongside and complement Australia’s pioneering social media minimum age law. It will also significantly upgrade current expectations for online service providers to ensure a safe online environment for everyone.
The content that deserves protection
However, there’s a danger the duty will focus exclusively on certain kinds of harmful content, such as deepfakes.
It’s important to define content that should be removed or restricted, but this approach also assumes that content promoting the public good doesn’t require definition or protection.
Some content is in the public interest, such as public health information, news, or legitimate self-expression. Only regulating harmful content overlooks potential harms from suppressing or removing useful posts.
For instance, community health organisations use social media for outreach to adults with specific sexual health needs. This includes women’s health, LGBTQI+ health, and HIV prevention and health care.
Research shows that using culturally appropriate images – which may be playful and even suggestive – and direct, nonjudgmental language reduces the fear and stigma often associated with sexual health concerns.
Digital sexuality education and wellbeing content is produced globally, both by independent content creators (or “influencers”) and various organisations.
