Apple says it plans to introduce age assurance technologies which can tell social media platforms if a user is underage, before Australia implements a ban of under-16s from such platforms in late 2025. The tech giant’s announcement pushes back against companies such as Snap and Meta, which have called for device manufacturers like Apple and… Read more »
Large social media companies should have to proactively remove harmful content from their platforms, undergo regular “risk assessments” and face hefty fines if they don’t comply, according to an independent review of online safety laws in Australia. The federal government this week released the final report of the review conducted by experienced public servant Delia… Read more »
“What very important truth do very few people agree with you on?” This is the infamous question Peter Thiel used to filter prospective employees and test for their tendency towards contrarian thinking — the type of thinking that enabled Thiel to be a successful venture capitalist. For a while there, many of us also believed… Read more »
Spoony, a social app designed to help neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled people, has raised $1 million in pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Antler, NDIS provider Melba Support and Trampoline, with support from former Mable COO Piroska Bisits-Bullen. Spoony emerged from the Antler program in mid-2024, cofounded by CEO Nicholas Carlton and CTO… Read more »
You could call it slow TV. For the last 8 days, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney have been live streaming an Indonesian lily famed as the largest and stinkiest flower-spike in the world. They’ve been taking temperature checks – much like you’d do to check for ovulation – to see when it Amorphophallus titanum would… Read more »
In late November, Australia’s federal parliament passed landmark legislation banning under-16s from accessing social media. Details remain vague: we don’t have a complete list of which platforms will fall under the legislation, or how the ban will look in practice. However, the government has signalled that trials of age assurance technologies will be central to… Read more »
Just days out from the United States presidential election last month, X (formerly Twitter) suddenly crippled the ability of many major media and political organisations to reach audiences on the social media platform. Without warning, the platform, under tech billionaire Elon Musk’s stewardship, announced major changes to the main pathway these organisations use to disseminate… Read more »
The federal parliament has passed legislation to ban people under 16 from having an account with some social media platforms. In doing so, it has ignored advice from a chorus of experts – and from the Australian Human Rights Commission, which said the government rushed the legislation through parliament “without taking the time to get… Read more »
The Federal Government’s proposed ban on social media is both dangerous to free speech and risks dooming a generation of Australia’s children to digital illiteracy. It feels good to ban something; it sounds decisive. “Kids addicted to social media? No problem, it’s banned!” Yes, there is a problem with how some children consume internet media.… Read more »
In an escalation of its battle with big tech, the federal government has announced it plans to impose a “digital duty of care” on tech companies to reduce online harms. The announcement follows the government’s controversial plans to legislate a social media ban for young people under 16 and impose tighter rules on digital platforms… Read more »
Australia wants to ban children from social media. The proposed legislation would make platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, off limits to anyone under sixteen, and put Australia at the forefront of regulating social media access for children. While backed by social change movements such as 36 Months which delivered a petition to Prime… Read more »
As governments worldwide move to restrict teenagers’ access to smartphones and social media, a fierce scientific debate has erupted over whether these digital technologies actually harm young people’s mental health. The controversy, sparked by an influential recent book blaming phones for rising youth anxiety, has exposed deep uncertainties in the research evidence – even as… Read more »
The federal government is looking to take on big tech companies like Meta, owners of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, TikTok and Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), and possibly YouTube, with a social media ban for children under 16. Prime minister Anthony Albanese and communications minister Michelle Rowland today revealed plans for legislation to be introduced… Read more »
On July 13, shortly after Donald Trump was targeted by an assassination attempt, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter), tweeted to his more than 200 million followers: I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery. Musk’s efforts to influence who wins next week’s US presidential election have continued. For… Read more »
For almost a decade, researchers have been gathering evidence that the social media platform Facebook disproportionately amplifies low-quality content and misinformation. So it was something of a surprise when in 2023 the journal Science published a study that found Facebook’s algorithms were not major drivers of misinformation during the 2020 United States election. This study… Read more »
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