Social Media Ban 'Will Work': Father and Advocate Wayne Holdsworth
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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.
Sextortion incidents Holdsworth told ABC Melbourne he believes occur among Australian children nightly; his own claim, not an independently sourced statistic.
Vella, Sharnelle, and Bob Murphy (presenters). "Social Media Ban 'Will Work': Father and Advocate Wayne Holdsworth." Melbourne Breakfast, 774 ABC Melbourne, Oct. 13, 2025.