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 »
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 »
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 stepping up its fight against scams, which last year cost Australians more than A$2.7 billion. On Friday, the federal treasury released a draft scam prevention framework. The government said the plan is: an economy‑wide reform to protect the Australian community from scams. It takes a whole‑of‑ecosystem approach to reduce gaps which… Read more »
Facebook acknowledged in a Senate inquiry yesterday that it is scraping the public photos of Australian users to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. Facebook’s parent company Meta claims this excludes data from users who have marked their posts as “private”, as well as photos or data from users under the age of 18. Since… Read more »
The Albanese government has announced it will introduce a social media ban for children. The government has not yet nominated a minimum age but is trialling age-assurance mechanisms for those aged 13–16. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the legislation will be introduced this year. This follows criticism from a range of experts, who argue it… Read more »
The federal government has committed to a national plan to ban children from social media. Details are still scarce. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged that “no government is going to be able to protect every child from every threat, but we have to do all we can”. But banning children from social media isn’t… Read more »
Caryn Marjorie is a social media influencer whose content has more than a billion views per month on Snapchat. She posts regularly, featuring everyday moments, travel memories, and selfies. Many of her followers are men, attracted by her girl-next-door aesthetic. In 2023, Marjorie released a “digital version” of herself. Fans could chat with CarynAI for… Read more »
For as long as we have used the internet to communicate and connect with each other, it has influenced how we think, feel and behave. During the COVID pandemic, many of us were “cut off” from our social worlds through restrictions, lockdowns and mandates. Understandably, many of us tried to find ways to connect online.… Read more »
If you search “shrimp Jesus” on Facebook, you might encounter dozens of images of artificial intelligence (AI) generated crustaceans meshed in various forms with a stereotypical image of Jesus Christ. Some of these hyper-realistic images have garnered more than 20,000 likes and comments. So what exactly is going on here? The “dead internet theory” has… Read more »
In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk last week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to being told to take down from X (previously Twitter) the video of the stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at a… Read more »
Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they come close to making streaming services look generous. By law, no radio station can be made to pay more than 1% of the station’s gross revenue for… Read more »
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