Over 7 years, Dezi Freeman's online presence drastically changed. We've laid out dozens of his posts so you can track his transformation from sharing photos of nature and his family, to a man obsessed with COVID-19 conspiracy theories and making threats to police. SEE: www.crikey.com.au/20...

this bot is going to hear some truly, terrible things

new meta for grinding just dropped: going to jail

"I ran a malware, now what should I do :("

me coming up with excuses why i can't talk to a spam caller

NEW: An app launched by Cancel the Hate, a website for anonymously reporting those accused of speaking ill against Charlie Kirk, was leaking user data. Cancel the Hate declined to respond to my inquires & removed the app from its website shortly after. san.com/cc/app-for-o...

Gotta get that screen time up somehow

re-reading the teen social media ban law's original documentation: the government argued that banning kids off social media will help them not get doxxed (as a way of making the case that the law abides by our human rights obligations) ?

It remains really funny that the teen social media ban law's explanatory memorandum opens with a quote from a a tech CEO showing how "detrimental to children and young people" — but that quote is from Netflix, notably not being banned.

interesting bit in a Lancet article re: Australia's teen social media ban: surprisingly the amount of socialising in person hasn't dropped significantly in the past 25 years, and certainly not by the average amount of social media use.

Thank you!!!! I hope you enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

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Optus' 000 recklessness, Trump tech visa crackdown, inside social media ban Plus: Spanish football piracy keeps taking the country’s internet offline READ: https://thesizzle.com.au/p/optus-000-recklessness-trump-tech-visa-crackdown-inside-social-media-ban

Not only is the hunger for new data centres already impacting Australia's energy demands, it's even driving down our ambitions for reducing our emissions, Ketan Joshi reports in Crikey. www.crikey.com.au/20...

pro-tip for cheering up your day: follow r/antivirus so you occasionally get served hilariously panicked posts

I’d like to think I’m .rtf but I fear I’m .docx 😞

i was also considered for this role

I conducted an experiment on what Tiktok and YouTube recommends when not logged in on the app. Given the social media ban only covers accounts, hard not to see this could be the experience for teens in Australia come December. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/s...

I reckon Travis is on to something, but just for fun, here are 3 great videogames in/about urban Naarm/Melb Apartment (2021) freeplayfest.itch.io/apartment Touch Melbourne (2018) gleeson.itch.io/touchmelbourne Necrobarista (2020) store.steampowered.com/app/725270/N... bsky.app/profile/grug...

just a reminder: if you’re a student, underemployed or otherwise struggling, send me an email and we’ll figure something out so you can get a sub.

I think people probably aren’t as alarmed as they should be about this

Similarweb: TikTok had 183M US MAUs on iOS and Android in August 2025, up 16% YoY, vs. Instagram's 169M, Facebook's 157M, Pinterest's 100M, and Snapchat's 70M (Rani Molla/Sherwood News) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

this is the funniest one of these photos i have ever seen. they have recovered the meat.

at one point Albania was on the brink of civil war after the collapse of pyramid schemes that had sucked up roughly half of GDP, and now that is only the *second* stupidest thing the country has done.

I was pleased to chat with @australia.theguardian.com team who actually looked at the Age Assurance trial data, finding racial & other biases of concern before the trial are still very evident in the trial's actual data (downplayed in the official summaries): www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...

The start of the press conference had audio issues, but from what I can make out Optus is apologising for a recent 000 calls outage in NT/WA/SA that contributed to 3 deaths.

"As a trans journalist, I know how hard it is to find any role at all in the Australian media landscape. I can’t even imagine at what point the establishment starts taking an interest in the plight of my community. Even scarier is thinking about when that point might happen" @nataliesqrl.bsky.social

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Australia on TrumpTok? Google shoving AI into Chrome and the Sizzler Say Plus: The world’s lightest battery bank is gummy bear-themed READ: https://thesizzle.com.au/p/australia-on-trumptok-google-shoving-ai-into-chrome-and-the-sizzler-say

rss is the answer to the infinite scroll, blast of stuff (chosen by someone else to make you spend more time online, not because it informs you or makes you feel better) right at your face. from earlier this week:

the biggest changes in tech in the past five years that doesn't seem to have sunk into the general consciousness is that "social media" is barely about connecting with friends/family/people you know any more. it's just a firehose of personalised content

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Kmart facial recognition banned, Tesla door handles and Meta's new glasses Plus: How saliva is helping people beat video games faster READ: https://thesizzle.com.au/p/kmart-facial-recognition-banned-tesla-door-handles-and-meta-s-new-glasses

TikTok deal on Friday in the wake of Kimmel. Trump in January said explicitly that he was looking at control: "I could see making a deal where the US gets 50% of TikTok. Polices it — a little bit, or a lot. Depends on them.” (Reports suggest a US govt-appointed board member at the very least.)

generally speaking, and with the glaring exception of november 2024, the more directly democratic an institution has been, the better it has checked Trump (eg grand and petit juries); the more elite and insular, the less effective (the Senate, the Supreme Court, big business)

pretty crazy as well when you consider the media/tech consolidation as well

Australia's privacy commissioner has again ruled against the use of facial recognition in retail, this time finding that K-mart's use of FRT for addressing refund fraud was unlawful.

thinking about becoming a media baron

Even Anthony Albanese is bumping the Rode wireless mics beloved by creators

Some news from me: I was laid off yesterday from Rolling Stone. Kind of in shock, but will be looking for a new gig. Here are Quincy and Lou

the greatest to ever do it

your mother sending details of your alleged war crimes to every single politician: I’m helping :)

when i try to buy something online and i see the international shipping rates:

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Data centres, Roblox is BIG and 'Get Out Of Technology' Plus: The Taliban are banning the internet to ‘prevent immorality’ READ: https://thesizzle.com.au/p/data-centres-roblox-is-big-and-get-out-of-technology

A Palestinian guy escaped to Europe on jet ski and used ChatGPT to plan, including how much fuel was needed. A funny thing that's buried is that they ran out of fuel 20km from their destination -- presumably because ChatGPT's estimate was wrong? lmao www.reuters.com/worl...

may I speak with the primary poster in your household?

gemini d-did what? 😳