I think this highlights the main issue I have with the social media ban... the algorithm is bad for everyone. It's cooking brains across the globe. Rather than addressing that, they've decided the only solution is to cut off a small section of the population for a few years

What under-16s may see under Australia's social media ban - scrolling shortform videos while logged out of YouTube and TikTok quickly leads to gambling, violent and far-right content, reports @joshtaylor.bsky.social

Israel’s targeted strikes on two newspaper offices in Yemen’s capital is the second deadliest single attack on the press ever recorded by CPJ, following the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines. Read more: cpj.org?p=522184

I’m reading and watching a lot of vile stuff at the moment, because my PhD project is about settler colonial violence and fear narratives in popular culture, and it seems like I need to read this book from 1997, called “Pauline Hanson-The Truth” (which is a batshit screed attributed to her) BUT

So, THIS is happening "Rewild the Internet: How to Resist Big Tech" will be published by Simon & Schuster in NY and Bloomsbury in London. Every bit of power we take from Big Tech takes it away from autocrats like Trump. Showing how is what I'm doing to meet this moment. (tk u @robin.berjon.com)

NEW NEWSLETTER: “The Weekly Cybers #85” buttondown.com/stilgherrian... Vibe-based guidelines for Australia’s social media age restrictions, Kmart slapped over facial recognition, a $92,000 tweet, and more.

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 ongoing forced evacuation orders, the leaflets are dropped warning people to evacuate before their area is attacked. People heed these evacuation orders, try to leave their areas, they are bombed on the way..." Hani Mahmoud reporting a few minutes ago.

In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Council established a Commission of Inquiry into Israel’s actions in Gaza. On 16 September 2025, the Commission delivered its report, determining that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza. 🧵1/7

Geelong: I am heading your way this Friday evening to talk #bees, sustainable urban design and share some stories about the weird wonderful world of being Parliament's head beekeeper! geelongindy.com.au/news/29-08-2...

Kmart’s use of facial recognition to tackle refund fraud unlawful, Privacy Commissioner finds www.oaic.gov.au/news/media-c...

In Australia, it is an offence to use a carriage service to menace, harass, or offend another person - section 474.17 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

Truly, this is such a great piece. I guarantee you probably have no idea just how deeply and profoundly the "AI for good" narrative has become embedded into the superstructure of so many progressive movements - not least the climate movement. Go read @abeba.bsky.social's piece:

Reading the final meeting minutes for the stakeholder advisory board overseeing the age assurance trial and this caught my attention. ageassurance.com.au/wp-content/u...

NEW PODCAST: “The 9pm Conspiracy Nation with Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson” @arielbogle.bsky.social @cameronwilson.bsky.social (49m11s) the9pmedict.com/edict/00252/ Look for “The 9pm Edict” in your podcast app. Like it? Please support this season’s crowdfunder. the9pmedict.com/spring2025

🎉 Save the date: WikiCon Australia 2026! We are thrilled to announce that WikiCon Australia 2026 will take place in Canberra over two days, 11 April 11 & 12 April 2026, at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. More to come. Image attribution: Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

"Australia has international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to make sure children are being protected from harms that get caused if they are unnecessarily locked up, if they are mistreated, in detention centres" #RaiseTheAge #auslaw #auspol www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Providers must take reasonable steps to respond to methods of circumvention that are easily accessible to under 16s or to methods that it is reasonable to assume under 16s may seek to use. e.g: - integrating VPN detection services & IP intelligence APIs to flag and restrict high-risk IP ranges

eSafety ~ reasonable for platforms to implement a range of measures, including: - determine which accounts are held by under 16s & deactivate or remove those accounts with kindness, care & clear communication - prevent under 16s from creating new accounts - mitigate circumvention of measures

Crikey's worm pointing out that The Conversation, SMH, AFR and others ran handy explainers yesterday on the main findings. But that it's the reaction to those findings at the top of many news sites today. The politics, in other words, not the facts. @crikey.com.au #NationalClimateRiskAssessment

eSafety's regulatory guidance for the social media minimum age obligation. When taking reasonable steps to prevent age-restricted users from holding accounts, providers should consider & apply the guiding principles in this document. #auslaw

Will you be in Melbs for @pyconau.bsky.social #PyConAU #PyConAU2025 in the next few days? Don't miss MDC's @kathyreid.au speaking on Sun 14th in Ballroom 1 at 1410hrs - introducing a better way to provide and source #data for #AI. Sneak peek: community.mozilladatacollective.com/your-dataset...

And still Australia’s PM & politicians persist in using X.

Very unclear why this amount of personal information including passports, driver’s licences, Medicare cards were retained by NSW Health after the "credentialing process" was completed.

This is nonsense ... "the principle that use of a VPN does not override legal access restrictions"

wow already received like 40~ suggestions. keep em coming!

New: Australians will need to prove they are over the age of 18 when accessing pornographic websites from 9 March 2026, under new industry codes registered on Tuesday by the eSafety Commissioner. 🔞 Full story on @information-age.bsky.social: ia.acs.org.au/article/2025...

Great oped from @rondeibert.bsky.social from the @citizenlab.ca calling on Canada's new AI minister to stop naively cheerleading & start making policing on AI in today's Globe & Mail. "The Minister of AI should be mitigating these risks, rather than naively championing the tech behind it all."

"True reform would mean properly resourcing Freedom of Information, enforcing compliance, and fostering a culture of disclosure. Instead, the Government is adding obstacles and calling it 'modernisation'." ~ @oaf.org.au

The federal government wants fewer FOIs. Crikey wants more. We know filing FOIs can be daunting — so let us do it for you! For the next few weeks, we're accepting ideas for requests that we'll take, shape, file and then will keep you in the loop when we hear back. www.crikey.com.au/20...

eSafety has taken enforcement action against a UK-based technology company responsible for AI-generated ‘nudify’ services used to create deepfake pornography of Australian school children.

Of COURSE this is publishers' proposed addition to robots.txt, in the almost-done IETF standard-setting process. This is the same privatized and automatically binding copyright rule -- displacing fair use and fair dealing -- they've wanted for years. AI is giving them the opportunity and excuse.

Interesting to see a similar case to #iitrial - Roadshow & Ors v iiNet - before the Courts in the U.S., 14 years after our High Court 🇦🇺 win:

"the govt has said that the platforms cannot require someone to provide ID, and they must provide alternative systems. If those systems have a high error rate, forcing users to provide ID anyway, are they really an alternative?" Now we wait for eSafety's regulatory guidance on "reasonable steps".

It beggars belief that MUP are scrapping Meanjin *entirely*. Could it not even continue as an online journal? And what will happen to the vast and essential archive on its website? The decision is a stunning, appalling act of cultural vandalism which demands complete transparency and accountability.

So disturbing that this fact check was necessary ...

so called 'affordable' housing is a scam. build more public housing 'Melbourne 'affordable' housing tenants face 17 per cent rent increase' www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

It's not only teens who will face "barriers" when social media platforms implement measures to prevent under 16s from having an account.

There’s no Congressional authorization here. Nor is there any imminent threat—not even under an “elongated” conception of imminence. And there’s also a concession that the strike was carried out not to avert immediate harm but to send a message. There’s no plausible argument that this was lawful.

This strike is outright murder even if you accept all the legal arguments the Obama admin made in support of its drone strikes, which you shouldn’t. www.justsecurity.org/119982/legal...

Disgraceful & costly cruelty from the Albanese Government. Human Rights Watch research has found that people forcibly transferred to Nauru have suffered severe abuse, inhumane treatment, and neglect. This latest deportation plan will put hundreds more lives at risk.

I think I wrote precisely two (2) pieces for Meanjin, but they remain my two pieces most in need of writing at that time. We do not have nearly enough spaces for the luxury to let this one go.

come to this piece to find news of xAI's CFO leaving after 4 months, stay for this bizarre anecdote www.wsj.com/tech/ai/...

It's not only teens who will face "barriers" when social media platforms implement measures to prevent under 16s from having an account.

In 2019, University of Melbourne Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Su Baker said the university would continue to provide significant funding to its publishing arm and continue to support Miegunyah Press books and literary magazine Meanjin. Why has that position changed?

Modernising FOI must ensure more meaningful access to information and less secrecy. Anything that reduces access will damage trust in government and further undermine our rule of law. 2/3

We are living in a time when lack of trust in government is being exploited and misinformation weaponised to push extremist views into the mainstream. The answer to this is greater openness and more transparency. 🧵1/3

Kids under 16 should get notified by platforms they'll be kicked off prior to 11 December and told how to download their data before then, according to esafety. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

What makes me skeptical AGI is around the corner is how ChatGPT is now handling prompts that elicit any kind of self-harm info. Gives a hotline warning, even when the request is a summary of Romeo and Juliet: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... Reddit is flipping out: www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/se...