Michael

you know what we need a royal commission into? retailers asking for your phone number when you buy something so they can "send you an electronic copy of your receipt" and whether they're actually only using it for that purpose.

Scoop: the pro-teen social media ban lobby group 36 Months was funded & co-staffed by its co-founder's ad production firm that was simultaneously making gambling ads

The federal government has ignored calls for a gambling ad ban while pursuing the social media ban.

www.crikey.com.au/20...

YouTube video by thejuicemedia Honest Government Ad | Social Media Ban

The Australien Government has made an ad about the Social Media Ban for Under-16s, and it's surprisingly honest and informative.

Teens are already getting around the teen social media ban by scanning their parents' faces or uploading their ID, after the government was warned that a third of parents were planning to help their kids dodge the minimum age.

www.crikey.com.au/20...

The ban is bad policy and it's clear not enough has been done to prepare young people and their families about what is about to happen. Where are the education packages and support that were promised? Just telling kids to log off and go touch grass is not going to cut it!

Instagram/Facebook/Threads users suspected of being under 16 will start getting notifications, emails and texts (!) about their accounts being deactivated, under new information put out by Meta today about how they intend to comply with Australia's teen social media ban.

'There will be deaths'

That's the fear of a youth worker thinking about the consequences of Australia's teen social media ban.

I wrote about their concerns for their clients, some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged teens, and about their ability to work with them.

www.crikey.com.au/20...

So Messenger is included in the under16s social media ban, despite reassurances it wouldn't be.

FFS. This is why the legislation is so badly written: the vast tidal wave of unintended consequences. The often repeated 'world-leading' legislation shouldn't be an excuse for it not working properly.

For the first four months of its existence ASIO was named Australia's Security Service. It was quickly changed and we were robbed of a great acronym.

I missed that Communications Minister Anika Wells said that kids talking on social media about plans to get around the teen ban will be picked up by the platforms as a signal that they are under 16.

Australia's social media ban… A looming implementation disaster Australia’s world-first ban on social media for children under 16 takes effect in just over a month on December 10, 2025, yet nobody knows exactly how it will work. The Online Safety Amendment (Social...

pleased to advise that I have completed another rant about the #socialmedia #ageassurance shit in #australia

hey.paris/posts/ageass...

#auspol

Discord age-assurance data breach includes 68,000 Australian users Almost all of the users of video game chat platform Discord who were caught up in October’s data breach are located in Australia, making up 68,122 of the disclosed 70,000 users, Guardian Australia has confirmed. Discord informed in October that a third-party customer service provider that the company was using for age verification had been compromised, with approximately 70,000 users affected, and usernames, email, billing information, IP addresses, and a small number of government ID images. Discord began using facial age assurance to check the age for users in the UK and Australia earlier this year. The company said facial images and ID images “are deleted directly after” ages are confirmed, but Discord’s website noted that if verification fails, users can contact the trust and safety team for a manual review. Ahead of the introduction of age assurance measures on social media in Australia as part of the under-16s social media ban, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner confirmed 68,122 Australians were affected by the breach. Discord had previously refused to break down the number of Australians caught up in the breach, when asked by Guardian Australia.

One month out from the under-16s ban and almost all of the users caught up in the Discord data breach caused by age assurance appeals were based in Australia, OAIC has finally confirmed. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Topic: Robodebt Case Legal Fees Question reference number: IQ25-000016 Asked By: Senator Jacqui Lambie Type of question: Spoken. Hansard Page/s: 9 Date set by the committee for the return of answer: 24 October 2025 Question: Senator Lambie: Services Australia, you lost a Robodebt case against Mr Warren before the full court. I'm just wondering what your legal costs for both Administrative Review Tribunal and the Federal Court were? I’m gathering it's about half a million and I’m being conservative. Do you know what the costs were? Mr Higgins: I'd have to take that on notice, Senator. I don’t have that detail with me. Answer: $776,739.02 including GST (where applicable) in relation to AAT, Federal Court and ART.

Wow, Services Australia spent three quarters of a million in legal fees fighting a losing FOI fight against @daedalus.eigenmagic.com

a man with a beard is saying " now that 's a name i 've not heard in a long time " ALT: a man with a beard is saying " now that 's a name i 've not heard in a long time "

Yahoo now giving evidence at the inquiry.

One more piece of the Australian Under16s Social Media Ban/Delay puzzle has been put on the table today with Carly Kind and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner releasing their guidance on how platforms and other entities should interpret the ban in terms of privacy. [1/4]

Privacy Guidance on Part 4A (Social Media Minimum Age) of the Online Safety Act 2021 The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

The full "Privacy Guidance on Part 4A (Social Media Minimum Age) of the Online Safety Act 2021" is here: www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/priv... #Privacy #Australia #SocialMediaBan [4/4]

Funny bit in estimates: Senator Fatima Payman pointing out that 4chan likely wouldn't be affected by the teen social media ban because it doesn't have accounts. eSafety Commissioner says she doesn't think that it was considered when making the ban.

It appears to me from the outside that the manual review process (which the Australian government has said it wants for the under 16s ban) led to ID docs being kept longer than needed.

Watch The People vs Robodebt Watch The People vs Robodebt for free with SBS On Demand, your ultimate destination for diverse entertainment. Stream now!

If you're in Australia and you like horror films (or Orwell and Kafka) 'The People vs Robodebt' will scare the pants off you:
www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-...

Meta appoints anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor Robby Starbuck has been appointed as an AI bias advisor at Meta with the goal of making the company's chat bot less "woke."

Meta appoints anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor with a mandate to make the company's chat bot less 'woke.' www.advocate.com/news/meta-ro...

Verify age group We use age groups to determine access to certain experiences. The information you provide is only used to confirm your age group, then it's deleted. Take a video selfie Usually fastest and totally automatic. All you need is a camera. Scan your ID You'll need a driver's license, passport, or other ID. Then a photo selfie to confirm it's you. Log Out

Wow, age assurance on Discord is here. Options are verify your "age group" or log out...

Ah, yes, what a shock, who could have seen this coming, it's not like it has been a long standing issue with facial recognition systems since inception or anything...

"Providers should have accessible, intuitive and easy pathways for people to report suspected age-restricted users."

eSafety wants tech companies to build StasiTech features so you can snitch on people.

Black and white photos of two white people, a woman with her hair tied back neatly, and a man with short hair and a half-arsed beard. Between them is the cover of their book, CONSPIRACY NATION.

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

Social media platforms will not be required to prove accuracy of under-16 bans While substantial fines would apply to social media platforms that make no effort to ban under-16s, they would not need to test the age of every user.

Breaking: Australian government admits its social media ban for kids is unenforceable bullshit masquerading as policy.

Welp, looks like age assurance has started rolling out for bsky users on Australian IP addresses

The Australian Age Assurance Technology Trial claims that age assurance can work in Australia, but their own evidence proves the opposite.

You can read the full 10 volumes of the report here: www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/m...

My top level concerns are in a thread below ... [1/5]

Social Media Ban: Age Assurance doesn't work but the Australian Government doesn't want you to know that The Australian Federal Government has today released the full results of their "Age Assurance Trials" which set out to prove to the Tech Companies of the

I'm away until later this week so I haven't deep-dived into the teen social media ban's tech trial report, but I thought it was notable that Nine/Today's tech commentator Trevor Long said the report shows how "age assurance doesn't work"

BREAKING: The Senate has just voted YES to our inquiry into the social media age ban & search engine age verification codes! This isn't just about kids - it's a national age verification and identification system masquerading as being about online safety for children. 🧵

UK government asks everybody to stop using VPNs.

"everybody who's out there thinking of using VPNs...verifying your age keeps a child safe...So let's just not try and find a way around. Just prove your age."

- UK government