Sarah Wynn-Williams
Global tech

The Zucksand Effect: Meta ensures everyone knows about a Kiwi whistleblower’s memoir, Careless People, about her time at Facebook, by trying to block her

- March 19, 2025 3 MIN READ

Social media giant Meta is attempting to lessen the impact of a tell-all memoir by its former director of global public policy Sarah Wynn-Williams, titled Careless People, which the company alleges is “defamatory”. Meta won an emergency arbitration ruling in the United States on Wednesday, where an absent Wynn-Williams was ordered to temporarily stop personally promoting… Read more »

Politics

Australia’s Rickard report into tech’s ‘digital duty of care’ recommends $50 million fines for failing to act

- February 6, 2025 4 MIN READ

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 »

Kenneth Liang and Nicholas Carlton
Funding

Spoony, a social app for neurodivergent, ill and disabled people, connects with $1 million pre-Seed raise

- January 28, 2025 2 MIN READ

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 »

Mark Zuckerberg
Global tech

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta shift is more about monetising misinformation than free speech

- January 9, 2025 3 MIN READ

Meta has announced it will abandon its fact-checking program, starting in the United States. It was aimed at preventing the spread of online lies among more than 3 billion people who use Meta’s social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads. In a video, the company’s chief, Mark Zuckerberg, said fact checking had led to… Read more »

Mark Zuckerberg
Data

Meta just got off cheaply in a $50 million compensation deal over data scraping scandal

- December 17, 2024 3 MIN READ

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has struck a $50 million deal with the Australian Information Commissioner to settle a Federal Court case over privacy breach involving the Cambridge Analytica political scandal. While it’s the second largest settlement struck by Meta over the matter, its a fraction of the US$725 million (A$1.14bn) the tech giant paid to… Read more »

kids video games
Gaming

Before Australia banned social media for under 16s, China tried to stop kids playing video games – and here’s what happened next

- December 10, 2024 3 MIN READ

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 »

Global tech

NOT API JAN: How social media’s throttling access to news is reshaping democracy

- December 5, 2024 3 MIN READ

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 »

Politics

Australia’s social media ban for under 16s might be law now, but how it’s supposed to work remains a mystery

- December 1, 2024 4 MIN READ

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 »

Politics

The government’s teenage social media ban has $50m fines but still lacks key details

- November 21, 2024 4 MIN READ

The federal government has introduced into parliament legislation for its social media ban for people under 16 years. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said: This is about protecting young people, not punishing or isolating them, and letting parents know we’re in their corner when it comes to supporting their children’s health and wellbeing. Up until now… Read more »

Politics

Australia will force tech platforms to have a ‘digital duty of care’ to reduce online harms

- November 14, 2024 4 MIN READ

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 »

On phone in bed
Opinion

Looking at both sides of the Australian government’s plan to ban under-16s from social media, it’s more complicated than I first thought as a parent

- November 12, 2024 5 MIN READ

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 »

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