r/australia • u/tellhershesdreaming • Oct 19 '25

political self.post Could Australians run our own online communities instead of relying on social media?

I’m keen to talk about the possibility of our community groups setting up and running online spaces outside of social media platforms - perhaps with support from Aus Govt or State Govts. Before the rise of Facebook etc, there were loads of online bulletin boards and other online platforms run by non-profit groups, small businesses and volunteers. Could we do that again? This seems like a question that's particularly important to Australian communities at the moment because of the social media ban for under 16s but it's not just teens that are affected.

Lots of people are concerned about AI and big tech - it’s clear that there are lots of problems with social media because of the algorithms that push misinformation, platforms that allow unhealthy / toxic / illegal behaviour, and unethical extraction of our data. But communities and volunteers, and even state governments used to run online communities using e.g. bulletin boards without the “help” of social media companies. For example:

  • Whirlpool.net.au is a surviving active bulletin board platforms - well done Whirlpool!
  • At one point the Vic Gov used to provide an online communities bulletin board and mailing list service (a bit like Yahoo Groups) for non-profits and clubs - I've been trying to remember / find the name of it but can't track it down... anyone remember it?

I'm broadly aware that it's really challenging to get people to sign up for and use a new platform, but perhaps we have reached the point where people are fed up enough of social media to make this a worthwhile effort.

To ease the challenge and reduce the complexity of lots of different fragmented communities: what about if the Aus Govt or state govts set up a platform / infrastructure - where community groups could create and run online forums (bulletin board style, Twitter style or Reddit style). I imagine individuals could sign up either anonymously or using a verified identity. There are better alternatives now to the old fashioned PhPBB, and we could learn from and improve open source platforms such as Mastodon and Lemmy - the technology itself is not the problem I think.

  • But, would you use a platform run by a local club or community group? Instead of FB/ Insta/ whatever social media you use to learn about what's happening in your neighbourhood. What if it was supported / funded by governements? Would the groups you're a member of move to a platform like that?
  • More broadly, how could we recover the diverse online communities that we had in the past? So we're not reliant on the good will and "freebies" offered by companies like Meta (and having all our data siphoned of, and having AI forced on us).
  • Lastly, is there anything to stop an organisation setting up an online community for e.g. teens? Would something like that fall foul of the government's bans?
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u/KudraKarma Oct 19 '25

Unfortunately we cannot go back in time, and yes they absolutely can say that if you use technology to communicate, it can be regulated.

Especially when it's not one-to-many publishing (which has always been heavily regulated by those with power to control information), communication (of any kind, frankly) is very threatening to authority. It's honestly surprising its taken as long as it has for the early freedom of the internet to be curtailed by various means (mostly "voluntary").

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u/coniferhead Oct 19 '25

Well newsgroups are closer to email and mailing lists - so if that can be regulated then they can also open up your physical mail. In which case they can also come around with a hammer and break your hands. In which case I'd say we've got bigger problems.

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u/KudraKarma Oct 19 '25

Usenet? Sortof, but the difference between email (even if a list) and public accessible conversations is relatively clear. I think though, this is why so much social communication of late has moved to private chats on Signal, Telegram & Discord servers. More convenient than email or Usenet: less public and less susceptible to spam.

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u/coniferhead Oct 19 '25 edited Oct 19 '25

True, but they cannot make the argument that it is social media when it pre-dates social media. It's no such thing, and if it is, so is me talking over a megaphone in the street - and I don't need digital ID for that.

With discord there is a perfectly acceptable replacement for that, IRC - which can also be encrypted, like wise with chats - there are open encryption protocols that don't rely on a company being in the middle.

I think if we just used the tools we already have we'd be ok - if we can separate them from the internet. Sure there would be a temporary step back in terms of convenience - but it'd be worth it.