Australia's Teen Social Media Ban Isn't Working. Half Their Teens Still Have Access, Survey Finds
After Australia banned social media for users younger than 16, teenagers "immediately worked to circumvent the restrictions," reports Fortune:
14-year-old in New South Wales, told
The Washington Post in December 2025, just
before the implementation of the ban, she planned to use her mother's
face ID to log in to Snapchat
and .
In a Reddit thread on ways to bypass the ban, one user suggested
using a printed mesh face mask from Temu to outsmart apps'
facial recognition tools. Others still have tried VPNs that obscure
their locations.
A new report
suggests these efforts are working. In a survey of 1,050 Australians ages 12 to 15 conducted last month, the
UK-based suicide prevention organization the Molly Rose Foundation
found more than 60% of teens who had social media accounts before the
ban still had access to at least one of those platforms. Social media
sites including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, have retained more than half of their users under 16.
About two-thirds of young users say these platforms have taken "no
action" to remove or reactive accounts that existed before the
restrictions.
The survey comes at the heels of the Australian internet regulator
calling
for an investigation into the five largest social media platforms
over potential breaches of the ban.
The article points out that "Greece, France, Indonesia, Austria, Spain, and the UK have or are considering similar action, and eight U.S. states are weighing legislation that would put guardrails or ban social media use for minors.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Iran's snub as negotiator leaves talks venue before US envoys even set off
The White House had previously said Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would fly to Pakistan for face-to-face talks amid hope that 'positive developments will come from this meeting'.
Falklands left without key air defences as Argentina splashes millions on fighter jets and US threatens to withdraw support for UK control of islands
Critics warn the islands will be without air-to-air refuelling capacity for the first time since the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher sent the Task Force to defeat Argentina.
Diana Vickers wows in a green bikini top and reveals mystery health woe as she displays her bandaged body
Diana Vickers wowed in a busty green bikini top as she revealed a mystery health woe in an Instagram post on Saturday.
Seann Walsh jokes 'that's what dress rehearsals are for' in cheeky response to I'm A Celebrity chaos after final show erupted into an explosive clash
The comedian, 40, made light of the disastrous final, pretending it was just a 'dress rehearsal' after the live show erupted into an explosive clash on Friday.
Trump reveals Iran made an offer just MINUTES after peace talks were canceled: 'A lot, but not enough'
President Donald Trump has cancelled Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner's trip to Pakistan for Iran peace negotiations, citing how the US allegedly has the upper hand in the war.
JENNY JOHNSTON: Wendy Duffy went to her death calmly, coherently, almost serenely, knowing how much she was loved. But these last words she uttered to me will stay with me forever...
Wendy Duffy was aware that she was leaving us as debate over the Assisted Dying Bill was reaching its end in the House of Lords, and that her story had been a hugely important one. Controversial, too.
DAN HODGES: These are the last gasps of a dying man. Starmer will have to be dragged out of No10... and he'll take the country down with him: Inside PM's 'desperate' tactics to save his own skin
Starmer is never going to be able to move on from Mandelson. He is never going to be able to relaunch his accursed premiership.
Colorado Adds Open-Source Exemption to Age-Verification Bill
Colorado's "age-attestation" bill left the House committee with new exemptions for open-source operating systems, applications, code repositories, and containerized software distribution, reports the blog Linuxiac:
[The bill] focuses on operating system providers and application stores. Its main requirement is that these providers supply an age-related signal via an interface, so applications can determine whether a user is a minor... System76 founder Carl Richell shared on Fosstodon that the updated bill now includes "a strong exemption for open source distros and apps" and has passed in the House committee. He also quoted the key part, which says Article 30 does not apply to an operating system provider or developer that distributes software under license terms that let recipients copy, redistribute, and modify the software without restrictions from the provider or developer... This wording covers Linux distributions and many open-source applications without linking the exemption to any specific project, company, or ecosystem.
The amendment also excludes applications from free, public code repositories from being considered covered applications. It also excludes code repository providers and containerized software distribution from being defined as covered application stores. This is meant to prevent platforms like GitHub, GitLab, Docker, or Podman-based distributions from being treated like commercial app stores under the bill.
"There are more steps but we're on our way to protecting the open source community," Richell posted on Fosstodon, "at least in Colorado."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha's husband Mark Adderley is suspended from the Green Party after posting 'antisemitism rants' on YouTube
Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha's husband Mark Adderley has been suspended from the Green Party over 'antisemitic rants' blaming Mossad for carrying out terror attacks on Jewish people.
Elizabeth Hurley and Billy Ray Cyrus share a passionate kiss as actress supports singer at country music festival Stagecoach
The English actress, 60, went public with her romance with the American country singer, 64, on Easter Sunday last year.
Britain's Got Talent's Matty Juniosa wins another Golden Buzzer as he joins Anastasiia and dog Salsa in final - but fans say surprise was ruined
Matty previously brought the house down with his amazing rendition of Prince's hit track Purple Rain, which had earned him Simon Cowell's buzzer.
TV stars and Trump allies gather at glamorous Daily Mail and Brunswick White House Correspondents' Dinner party that was 'talk of the town'
The White House Correspondents' Association weekend kicked off in spectacular style on Friday night with a celebration at the British embassy, hosted by the Daily Mail.
Trump labels peace talks a 'waste of time' as Iranians leave Islamabad empty handed - and US continues Strait of Hormuz blockade: Live updates
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday and held a series of meetings with Pakistani officials, including the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan's Army Chief.
Kylie Jenner slammed by fans for ranking spray tans and handbags above her two children on favorite things list
The reality star, 28, took to her Instagram Stories on Thursday to share a mirror selfie while her gratitude list was plastered across the screen... and her two children didn't even crack the top five.
Scarlett Moffatt is dubbed the 'real' I'm A Celeb winner as pregnant star lands a HUGE TV deal after missing out on the final
The Gogglebox star, 35, was eliminated on Thursday night's show, after coming last in the trial, leaving Mo Farah, 43, Harry Redknapp, 79, Adam Thomas, 37, and Craig Charles, 61, in the running.
Is the World Ready For a Car Without a Rear Window?
There's a glass roof — but no rear-view window. Instead the Polestar 4 replaces the rear-view mirror with a live feed from a wide-angle camera. Its high-resolution display (1480 x 320 pixels) promises "a panoramic view of the outside," according to Polestar's web site, showing more of what's behind you. "Visibility in the dark and in rainy conditions is also vastly improved."
Besides the camera feed (and side mirrors), the Polestar 4 offers four short-range cameras (for 360-degree views), and even short-range ultrasonics, the Wall Street Journal points out. (Car rear-view windows are usually five feet off the ground, "making a typical traffic cone invisible from closer than about 35 feet." ) And this new design also improves "aero efficiency," reducing drag and shearing turbulence, "critical, since the Polestar 4 is all-electric, and aero drag is the mortal enemy of range."
[A]s a practical matter, the Polestar 4's innovation only acknowledges what drivers already know. In many modern cars, the rearview mirror is all but useless, anyway. In a typical full-size SUV, the glass in the rear hatch is about 10 feet away from the rearview mirror, with two sets of headrests in between... Having spent a few days in what Polestar calls an "SUV coupe" I am here to report that drivers won't miss the mirror. For one thing, the display is shaped like a conventional mirror, imbuing it with the comfort of the familiar. The imagery is convincingly mirror-like — reversed — with eye-like focal length, decent resolution and lowlight sensitivity, making it easy to trust when judging distances, with the help of graphical overlays and warning tones. It also has excellent auto-dimming algorithms....
The Polestar 4 is called that because it is the fourth model from the Swedish-Chinese premium/luxury collab, born out of Volvo Cars' performance subbrand. Describing it as an "SUV coupe" almost feels like a translation error. The design eschews signaling traditional utility in favor of a jocund modernism — call it orbital chic.... As for missing the rear window, my advice is, don't look back.
"In sports cars, rearview mirrors have been essentially decorative for some time," the article points out. (The 1974 Lamborghini Countach LP400 originally envisioned "a rear-facing periscope fitted in a dorsal channel in the roof.")
"The era's contempt for rearview mirrors was captured in a scene from The Gumball Rally (1976) when Raul Julia's character snaps the mirror off his Ferrari Daytona and throws it away. 'The first rule of Italian driving,' he says. 'What's behind me is not important.'"
There's 11 exterior cameras, plus 12 ultrasonic sensors and a mid-range radar to watch for threats
and "intervene if necessary". One feature even reads speed limit signs and shows the posted limit on the driver's display. ("If the car exceeds the limit, the driver will hear a warning sound.") Even the windshield has built-in camera sensors to provide automatically "adaptive" headlights that switch from high beam to low beam when they identify approaching vehicles or the taillights of cars ahead.
"A total of seven airbags are deployed in the event of a collision."
Thanks to Slashdot reader fjo3 for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Nikki Sanderson, 42, gives birth to a baby boy! Coronation Street star welcomes her first child with partner Anthony Quinlan
Nikki Sanderson has announced she has given birth to her first child, a baby boy, with her partner Anthony Quinlan.
Lauren Goodger looks stylish in a denim co-ord as she joins Dani Imbert and their TOWIE co-stars at ITV's studio ahead of new series
As they gear up for the launch of the latest s eries, original castmate Lauren, 39, wore a denim co-ord set while attending the press day.
Woman in her 50s is arrested after ambulance flipped on its side in crash with car and lorry - leaving five people in hospital
Emergency services rushed to the junction of the A13 and A130 at Bowers Gifford, Essex, at around 1.20pm on Friday afternoon.