Tag: social media

Australia Bans YouTube for Children Under 16

The government of Australia has reversed its decision to grant YouTube an exemption from its sweeping ban on social media for children under 16. YouTube’s parent company, Google, is threatening legal action, but Australian officials vowed to push ahead with the ban.

“We can’t control the ocean, but we can police the sharks, and that is why we will not be intimidated by legal threats when this is a genuine fight for the wellbeing of Australian kids,” Communications Minister Anika Wells said when Google threatened to sue.

Australia announced its “world-leading” plan to bar children from using social media in November 2024. Despite resistance from Internet freedom advocates, and difficult questions about precisely how such a ban could be implemented, the relevant legislation was quickly passed, and the ban is set to take effect in December 2025.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave a press conference on Wednesday in which he pledged to promote Australia’s social media ban to other countries at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

“I know from the discussions I have had with other leaders that they are looking at this and they are considering what impact social media is having on young people in their respective nations, it is a common experience,” Albanese said, appearing with the parents of children who were bullied to death on social media.

“We don’t do this easily. What we do, though, is respond to something that is needed here,” he said.

YouTube was granted an exemption from the ban when it was passed by Parliament in November, for several reasons. One was that YouTube was viewed as an important source of information for teens, so even though it carried potentially harmful content, the good was thought to outweigh the bad.

LGBTQ groups insisted YouTube was an important resource for gay and lesbian children, while public health groups said they used the platform to distribute important information to young people. Australian parents found YouTube less alarming that competing platforms like TikTok. YouTube also featured less direct interaction between users than most of the social media platforms that troubled Australian regulators.

A final objection to banning YouTube was that logging into the service is not required – visitors can access the vast majority of the platform’s content as “guests.” This meant there was no practical way to hold YouTube accountable for policing the age of its users.

Naturally, many of the platforms that were targeted by Australia’s social media ban resented the exemption granted to YouTube. These complaints might have had some bearing on the government’s decision to cancel YouTube’s exemption.

According to Australia’s ABC News, YouTube was added to the social media ban at the request of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, who wrote a letter to Wells asking for YouTube’s exemption to be rescinded. Inman Grant said her recommendation was based on a survey of 2,600 children that found nearly 40 percent of them had been exposed to “harmful content” while using YouTube.

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DEI police chief scolds Americans for sharing videos of black mob attacking white people…

A violent mob attack in downtown Cincinnati is going viral, and it’s not hard to see why. The video shows a white man being thrown to the ground and brutally beaten by a large group of black people. When a woman rushes in to help, she’s knocked out cold, slammed to the pavement with a blow to the head.

People are sharing the footage because it looks like a hate crime. Plain and simple.

Fox News: 

Police in Cincinnati are investigating a viral video that shows what appears to be a violent brawl in the downtown section of the city.

The fight happened on Friday night, between Elm and Fourth Streets, according to FOX 19 in Cincinnati. Several videos of the fight have made the rounds on social media.

A man in a white t-shirt appears to be shoved to the ground by two other men and mercilessly beaten. The video then shows others in the crowd, women included, joining in on the beating. The man’s head appears to be stomped multiple times.

The man continued to be battered for about 50 seconds before he was helped back onto his feet.

But he immediately took a step and fell back down. Several people responded to help the man back up, and one man could be heard saying, “My man’s drunk.”

The man eventually gets back on his feet, and he appears to be bleeding from his head, nose and mouth.

A woman then appears to rush to the man’s aid, but she is then attacked by the crowd. She suffers two brutal blows to the face, which send her slamming down on the pavement. She appears to be knocked unconscious after her head hits the pavement.

It is unclear who the initial aggressors were. The man and woman seen being beaten in the video are White, and the large crowd that targets the pair is made up largely of Black assailants. The identity and condition of the man and woman in the video are unknown.

But instead of focusing on the violent, racially charged attack caught on camera, DEI Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge seems more concerned with the video going viral and how it might make black people “look bad.”

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Florida School Board Chair Under Fire for Disturbing Social Media Post Following Hulk Hogan’s Death: “Good. One less MAGA in the world.”

Alachua County School Board Chair Sarah Rockwell is under fire after a Facebook post following the news that Hulk Hogan died.

The cultural icon passed away on Thursday at the age of 71.

While people around the globe shared kindness and words of love, Rockwell, a leader in the educational future for school children,  took to Facebook to share a vile, politically motivated comment.

Responding to a post announce Hogan’s passing, she wrote “Good. One less MAGA in the world.”

After her disgusting comments went viral, Rockwell posted the following statement on Facebook, but limited who can comment on the post.

A few days ago, I made a cruel and flippant comment from my personal Facebook account on a friend’s post regarding the death of Hulk Hogan. I deeply regret making that comment and have since removed it. I want to make it very clear that I never have and never will wish harm on anyone regardless of whether we share political views. While I strongly disagree with some of the comments Hulk Hogan made, that is no excuse for my comment.

I also sincerely apologize for the way my comment has eroded confidence in my ability to represent all students, families, and staff in Alachua County. I want to assure all of you that the best interests of our children and our public schools are at the center of everything I do as a board member. I hope I have shown that by my record of advocacy for children, families, and staff members throughout Alachua county.

Again, I apologize for the hurt and distrust I have caused with my insensitive comment. I will continue to do the hard work of putting our children and schools first. I hope that I can earn back your trust.

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UK DYSTOPIA: British Police Forms ‘Elite Team’ to Monitor Social Media Searching for ‘Anti-migrant’ Posts, as Leftist Labour Government Braces for Citizens’ Revolt

The United Kingdom continues to devolve into a totalitarian state bent on destroying British society.

Under Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Britain accelerates its descent into a thought-policing state that cares more for ‘asylum seekers’ (a.k.a. illegal invaders) than it does for its own citizens-taxpayers.

As the fed-up British start to push back against the criminal elements among the migrants, we learn that the deranged leftist government is raising an ‘elite team of police officers’ to monitor social media for ‘anti-migrant sentiment’, as Starmer and his unpopular team brace themselves in fear of the people.

The Telegraph reported:

“Detectives will be drawn from forces across the country to take part in a new investigations unit that will flag up early signs of potential civil unrest.

The division, assembled by the Home Office, will aim to ‘maximize social media intelligence’ gathering after police forces were criticized over their response to last year’s riots.”

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SEE the Videos and Images CENSORED by the UK Government As They Implement The Draconian Online Safety Act

Footage is being censored in the UK featuring the heavy-handed police crackdown on citizens showing up to hotels to protest the illegal migrant invasion, as many grow fed up after a 38-year-old Ethiopian migrant sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.

The videos are being censored under the controversial new “Online Safety Act,” which was promoted as a way to prevent children from being exposed to graphic content on the internet… but now it’s being used to hide the tyranny of the state, the massive public uproar, and the ongoing invasion.

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Blake Lively Wants Names and IP Addresses

Blake Lively has decided that the best way to respond to online gossip and criticism is with subpoenas, lots of them. With a move that suggests her legal team spent a weekend watching “Enemy of the State,” Lively is now targeting 36 content creators, from high-profile commentators to pseudonymous hobbyists, all over rumors she says were part of a smear effort.

Some of the targets have large followings. Others barely register on the algorithm. One runs a YouTube astrology channel with fewer than 300 subscribers at the time of the subpoena. All are now being asked to turn over a wide array of personal and financial data, as if they were co-conspirators in a criminal probe instead of people who post opinions from their bedrooms.

The case, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC, is already a headache in itself, but this new front seems designed less to resolve the actual lawsuit and more to comb through the internet for anything unflattering.

We obtained a copy of the Google subpoena for you here.

We obtained a copy of the TikTok subpoena for you here.

We obtained a copy of the X subpoena for you here.

If you’re out of the loop, Blake Lively is suing Wayfarer Studios, its co-founder Justin Baldoni, and several others, alleging sexual harassment, workplace misconduct, breach of contract, and a coordinated retaliation campaign designed to destroy her reputation.

According to the complaint, Lively raised concerns about repeated inappropriate behavior by Baldoni and Wayfarer executives during production of It Ends With Us. After the film was completed, she claims Baldoni and his team launched a covert “social manipulation” campaign to discredit her using fake grassroots content, crisis PR firms, and anonymous online posts, which she describes as a well-funded digital smear effort.

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Elon Musk’s X to Deploy AI to Write Community Notes, Speed Up Fact-Checking

In a major tech-driven update, Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has announced it will deploy AI technology to automatically write Community Notes and enhance the speed and accuracy of fact-checking. This move signals a deeper commitment to tackling misinformation, improving content transparency, and empowering users with context.

Let’s break down what this means, how it will work, and what impact it might have on the social media landscape.

Community Notes (formerly Birdwatch) are a feature that allows users to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading or controversial tweets. The system relies on crowdsourced input from contributors who can write, rate, and approve notes that are visible to all users once they reach a certain level of consensus.

Until now, these notes were created manually by human contributors. But with the introduction of AI, the process is about to get a serious boost in efficiency and scale.

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MAGA Going to Israel for Propaganda Training

The Israel foreign ministry will spend $86,000 to finance a tour of Israel for 16 Americans to get them to use their vast online influence to craft more positive images of a nation openly engaged in genocide. 

The effort is being made as Israel reacts to a significant turn in public opinion against it, especially by Western youth. Tel Aviv realizes its usual methods of propaganda — and apparently its own inhouse troll army — are no longer working as they once did. 

The daily Haaretz reported: 

“Foreign Ministry officials say the tour delivers significant media, advocacy, and diplomatic benefits – and represents a strategic shift, as traditional outreach is no longer sufficient to shape public opinion. They aim to leverage the massive followings of young social media influencers to bolster Israel’s standing in the U.S.” 

The Americans, whose names have not been divulged, belong to the MAGA and America First movements, the newspaper said. They are all younger than 30 and each have hundreds of thousands or millions of followers, a vast, target-rich environment for propaganda.  Israel intends to bring more than 500 “influencer delegations” to Israel this year, the ministry said.

It is paying an organization called Israel365 to organize the first American tour because it is in a “unique position to convey a pro-Israel stance that aligns entirely with the MAGA and America First agenda.” 

Israel365’s website says the group “stands unapologetically for the Jewish people’s God-given right to the entire Land of Israel,” calls the two-state solution a “delusion,” and says it’s defending “Western civilization against threats from both Progressive Left extremism and global jihad.” 

Israeli officials justified the no-bid contract with the organization because of its “experience and know-how in creating awareness, engagement, and mobilization of Christian audiences regarding their support for the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” Haaretz reported. 

Ministry officials told the newspaper that “while older Republicans and American conservatives still hold pro-Israel views, positive perspectives towards Israel are falling across all younger age groups.”

News of the tour comes after the U.S. national teachers union voted to ditch the Zionist curriculum of the Ant-Defamation League, which was influencing young American minds.

Western youth, including conservatives, have become increasingly aware of the history of Israel’s expulsion of Palestinian people from their land and of Israel’s stated genocidal intent and actions in Gaza today. It is a wave of understanding Israel needs to contain.

A ministry source said: “We’re working with influencers, sometimes with delegations of influencers. Their networks have huge followings, and their messages are more effective than if they came directly from the ministry.”

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Reddit Now Requires Age Verification In UK To Comply With Nation’s Online Safety Act

The news and social media aggregation platform Reddit now requires its United Kingdom based users to provide age verification to access “mature content” hosted on its website.

Users must prove they are eighteen years or older to read or contribute such content.

UK regulator Ofcom stated “We expect other companies to follow suit, or face enforcement if they fail to act.” Internet content providers who fail to adopt such measures can face fines of up to eighteen million pounds or ten percent of their worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.

For continued violations or serious cases, UK regulators may petition the courts to order “business disruption measures” such as forcing advertisers to end contracts or preventing payment providers to provide revenue for the platforms. Internet service providers can be required to block access to their users.

Reddit announced a partnership with Persona to provide an age verification service. Users will be able to upload a “selfie” image or a photograph of their government issued identification or passport as proof of majority. The company stated the age verification is a one-time process and that it will only retain users’ date of birth and verification status. Persona proffered they would only retain the photos for seven days.

David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the UK’s Online Safety Act a real tragedy: “UK users can no longer use the internet without having to provide their papers, as it were.”

The rules come as no surprise given the regulatory over-reach of many European governments.

The canards of Protecting the Children or Online Safety provide indirect tools to deny access or curtail speech, tools too tempting or useful for pro-censorship politicians and officials.

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Court rules Mississippi’s social media age verification law can go into effect

A Mississippi law that requires social media users to verify their ages can go into effect, a federal court has ruled. A tech industry group has pledged to continue challenging the law, arguing it infringes on users’ rights to privacy and free expression.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overruled a decision by a federal district judge to block the 2024 law from going into effect. It’s the latest legal development as court challenges play out against similar laws in states across the country.

Parents – and even some teens themselves – are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media use on young people. Supporters of the new laws have said they are needed to help curb the explosive use of social media among young people, and what researchers say is an associated increase in depression and anxiety.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch argued in a court filing defending the law that steps such as age verification for digital sites could mitigate harm caused by “sex trafficking, sexual abuse, child pornography, targeted harassment, sextortion, incitement to suicide and self-harm, and other harmful and often illegal conduct against children.”

Attorneys for NetChoice, which brought the lawsuit, have pledged to continue their court challenge, arguing the law threatens privacy rights and unconstitutionally restricts the free expression of users of all ages.

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