Wayne Holdsworth
Bereaved-Parent Campaigners · SmackTalk
Founded SmackTalk and publicly backed Australia's under-16 social-media law.
Wayne Holdsworth founded SmackTalk, an Australian awareness organization addressing online sextortion of young people. He was a public supporter of Australia's under-16 social-media law, advocacy that contributed to the national conversation leading up to the legislation. Holdsworth has spoken publicly about the risks of sextortion targeting minors online and has used that platform to call for stronger platform accountability and legal protections for children using social media in Australia. His advocacy work has been covered by international wire services reporting on Australia's social-media policy debate.
Suicide and self-harm are complex and never caused by one factor alone. Problematic screen use, cyberbullying, harmful content, and online exploitation may increase risk or intensify existing distress. If someone is in immediate danger or emotional crisis in the United States, call or text 988.
WORKS IN THE LIBRARY (10)
VIDEOS
Let's Talk about Suicide Prevention with Wayne Holdsworth from SmackTalk
In this 32-minute episode of the Australian parenting podcast Your Parent Coach, host Mel White interviews Wayne Holdsworth, founder of the charity SmackTalk, about turning grief into advocacy after his son Mac's death by suicide following an online sextortion scam. Holdsworth discusses what he describes as effective listening during a young person's crisis, the rising rate of sextortion targeting minors and its association with youth mental-health strain, and obstacles he says he has encountered spreading suicide-prevention education in schools. He also previews SmackTalk's Unplug24 campaign, a 24-hour break from social media held on October 24, 2025, meant to raise funds and awareness for the charity's programs. TechKids Foundation includes this interview as a documented, dated public account of Holdsworth's advocacy message aimed at parents.
Social Media Ban 'Will Work': Father and Advocate Wayne Holdsworth
In this 13-minute segment on 774 ABC Melbourne's Melbourne Breakfast program, hosts Sharnelle Vella and Bob Murphy interview Wayne Holdsworth roughly two months before Australia's under-16 social media age restrictions took effect. Holdsworth, whose son Mac died by suicide after an online sextortion scam, tells the hosts he believes the incoming law will work and calls it "a magnificent start," while acknowledging it will not solve the problem immediately. He also tells the hosts that, based on his experience presenting to schools, he believes roughly 100 Australian children a night are targeted by sextortion attempts. TechKids Foundation includes this interview as a dated, on-record account of a bereaved-parent advocate's view of the law shortly before it started, and notes Holdsworth's nightly-incidence figure as his own claim rather than an independently sourced statistic.
Wayne Holdsworth's Mission for Suicide Prevention
In this interview posted to YouTube by the program Sportzfan Radio in February 2024, shortly after he founded the charity SmackTalk, Wayne Holdsworth discusses the death of his son Mac by suicide and lays out what he describes as a three-part approach to suicide prevention centered on awareness, early intervention, and improved support systems. Holdsworth explains his motivation for starting SmackTalk and his early efforts to bring warning-signs education into schools and community groups. TechKids Foundation includes this appearance as an early, dated public statement of Holdsworth's advocacy framework, made in the first weeks after SmackTalk's founding and before the national debate over Australia's under-16 social media law had fully taken shape.
Wayne Holdsworth Joins Gerard Whateley to Discuss Unplug24
Australian sports broadcaster Gerard Whateley interviewed Wayne Holdsworth on his eponymous podcast on October 21, 2025, about the origin of SmackTalk's Unplug24 campaign, a 24-hour break from social media the charity organizes to raise awareness of sextortion and suicide risk. According to SmackTalk's own description of the episode, Holdsworth explains how his son Mac's death prompted the campaign and how participation has grown since its first run. TechKids Foundation includes this appearance as a dated example of Holdsworth's advocacy reaching a general-interest sports and current-affairs audience outside specialist youth-safety or parenting media, broadening the audience for his warning-signs message beyond outlets that cover online safety directly.
STUDIES
The Devastating Sextortion of Mac
Published on SmackTalk's own website, this page is the origin account behind the charity Wayne Holdsworth founded after his son's death. It describes how, in July 2022, Mac, then 16, exchanged intimate images online with someone posing as a young woman on Instagram, was then contacted by a man demanding payment, and paid an initial $500 before further demands followed; Wayne reported the matter to Victoria Police. The page describes the fallout after images circulated among Mac's contacts and states that Mac died by suicide in October 2023, an outcome the family associates with the sextortion he experienced. TechKids Foundation includes this as SmackTalk's own account of the case that founded the charity's advocacy, described here in association language rather than as a claim that sextortion alone explains any death by suicide.
Our Impact
SmackTalk's 'Our Impact' page is the charity's own running account of its reach since Wayne Holdsworth launched it in April 2024. As of this page's most recent snapshot, it reports having presented to 82 schools, sports clubs, and workplaces, reaching more than 10,000 people, with 35 further talks scheduled. The page also describes one specific outcome: a teenager who contacted Holdsworth in crisis on the afternoon of a school presentation, whom Holdsworth connected with Lifeline and who stayed in touch afterward. TechKids Foundation includes this page as the organization's own self-reported reach and program outcomes rather than an independently audited evaluation, and notes it as a documented instance of a warning-signs presentation being followed by a young person disclosing suicidal thoughts and being connected to crisis support.
Dad of Sextortion Victim Backs New Australian Social Media Laws
In this first-person feature for the Australian magazine that's life!, as told to senior writer Lisa Brookman, Wayne Holdsworth recounts his son Mac's sextortion scam on Instagram in 2022, Mac's death by suicide in October 2023, and his own decision to found the charity SmackTalk. Holdsworth says he has spoken to more than 9,000 people through school and community presentations and that SmackTalk's Unplug24 campaign drew more than 130,000 participants to a 24-hour break from social media. The piece situates his advocacy against Australia's newly passed law restricting social media access for children under 16, which Holdsworth welcomes as a protective step he believes could have changed his son's outcome. TechKids Foundation includes this profile as a detailed, dated first-person account of a bereaved parent's advocacy trajectory.
Australian Father of Teen Sextortion Victim Backs Banning Young Children From Social Media
In this Associated Press wire story, reporter Rod McGuirk profiles Wayne Holdsworth days after Australia's House of Representatives voted to ban children under 16 from social media. Holdsworth tells McGuirk that his son Mac died by suicide after being sexually extorted online, and that he has since spoken at roughly 20 schools to about 3,000 students aged 12 to 17 about the risks. He says most students he addresses support the proposed ban and that some have separately disclosed being targeted by sextortion themselves, including one who had already paid a blackmailer thousands of dollars. The story also outlines objections raised by critics, including digital-rights advocates and at least one lawmaker, who argued the bill was rushed and could isolate vulnerable children. TechKids Foundation includes this as international wire coverage naming Holdsworth as a public advocate for the law.
Social Media Ban for Children Under 16 Starts in Australia
This Associated Press wire story, carried by NPR on the day Australia's under-16 social media ban took effect, reports on a Sydney gathering marking the law's start. It quotes Wayne Holdsworth telling the crowd that bereaved parents' children "haven't died in vain," given the policy change, and situates his remarks alongside a 12-year-old campaigner's comments and a mother's concerns about the ban's effect on her children's careers in entertainment. The story notes the ban covers ten major platforms, carries fines of up to roughly A$49.5 million for non-compliance, and that Australia's eSafety Commissioner planned to report on early enforcement before year's end. TechKids Foundation includes this as wire coverage marking Holdsworth's public presence at the law's implementation — a policy outcome his advocacy is publicly associated with.
Father Tells of Unimaginable Loss After a 30-Minute Online Conversation Led a Teen to Take His Own Life in Sextortion Tragedy
In this 7NEWS.com.au feature, reporter Malin Hagglund reconstructs the sextortion scam that targeted 16-year-old Mac Holdsworth in 2022 and its aftermath, drawing on an interview with his father, Wayne. The piece describes how a man posing online as a young woman obtained an intimate image from Mac, then threatened to distribute it unless paid, and how Wayne involved Victoria Police after his son disclosed what was happening. It reports that police identified a suspect within three days via the bank account used, but that the image had already been shared with Mac's contacts by then. The article accompanies a 7NEWS Spectrum podcast episode on the case. TechKids Foundation includes this piece as investigative reporting, independent of SmackTalk, documenting the sextortion case underlying Holdsworth's advocacy, describing events factually rather than attributing Mac's later death to any single cause.