Australia launches a social media ban – and is AI a bubble about to pop?
Hello, and welcome to TechScape.I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you from a New York City that feels much colder than last December.🥶In a world first, Australia implemented a ban on social media use for people under 16.It’s the first country to take such a far-reaching measure.Starting on 10 December, children and teens under 16 will not be allowed to use social media in Australia.
Tech platforms – a wide category that includes Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok but not direct messaging services like WhatsApp or Facebook’s Messenger – will very soon be obligated to deactivate the accounts of too-young users,What does the ban entail?Platforms that the Australian government has included in the ban will need to deactivate all accounts for users under 16 and prevent those users from holding an account until after they turn 16,To make that possible, all Australian social media users will need to prove their ages,The country’s online safety regulator, the eSafety commissioner, must be satisfied the platforms have taken “reasonable steps” to prevent under-16s from holding an account, or they will face a fine of up to $49,5m.
Read more: Australia social media ban: when does it start, how will it work and what apps are being banned for under-16s?What do tech companies say?They are opposed to the prohibition.What do teenagers have to say?Some teens who spoke to my Guardian Australia colleagues said they were moderately in favor or indifferent to the ban.Emma Williamson, 15, said: “I think everyone will miss the socialising part.But it’s also a relief to not have to do that on a platform designed to lure you in and waste your time, no one is going to miss scrolling.”Others expressed complicated feelings of government overreach into their personal lives.
Ezra Sholl asked a dissenting question: “I’m 15 years old and have a disability.Social media has been a lifeline – why is the government kicking me off?”Read more: ‘Everyone will miss the socialising – but it’s also a relief’: five young teens on Australia’s social media banAre other countries following Australia’s lead, as tech companies feared?Yes.Malaysia plans to follow in Australia’s footsteps in 2026, according to the country’s communications minister.Denmark and Norway are pursuing similar measures.The European parliament voted in favor of a ban on children under 15 in November.
France’s Emmanuel Macron said his administration will implement a ban in the absence of one passed at the EU level.What about AI?Social media is not so new any more.AI chatbots represent the next frontier in the relationships between teens and computers.These responsive bots have even been recorded teaching teens how to circumvent Australia’s rules about social media.The country’s eSafety commissioner has expressed a desire to restrict the availability of those products to teenagers with stringent new laws as well.
Is the waterfall of money pouring into the artificial intelligence industry going to plunge the world into a recession? On Monday’s episode of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast, I go over the various perspectives on how the enormous investment in the sector has already taken over the US economy and is poised to do so to the globe’s, which some analysts say risks worldwide financial crisis.Will AI end in a crash a la Amsterdam’s tulips? Host Nosheen Iqbal asks about AI’s circular financing deals, massive valuations, comparisons to past bubbles, and whether “the spending is real”, as one analyst said after last quarter’s strong Nvidia earnings.We have all been witness to the huge rise of AI in the last three years since OpenAI launched ChatGPT.In that time, AI has become so enormously important to the US economy that seven companies – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla – make up a third of the S&P 500, the index of the 500 biggest stocks in the United States stock market.It’s a huge concentration of money in one singular industry.
All of those companies are very involved in the AI boom.For seven of them to comprise a third of that entire index’s value makes for a very top-heavy financial landscape.If any one of them falters in a significant way, it will send shock waves through the entire US economy.Does that make AI a bubble that’s about to pop? I don’t think so.I think the money is real, to repeat the Nvidia analyst.
There may be market corrections some time soon, and bubble doomsayers will say: “This bubble has popped.” AI bubble yeasayers will say: “No, the financial pain is minor in comparison to AI’s major gains.”It’s not impossible that AI precipitates a financial crash.So far, though, the steam behind the industry is so strong and growing so fast that, as a journalist, we have to view things as they are now.The biggest companies in the world are very profitable and making gargantuan investments.
That is the story as it stands today,Will they lose all their money in the financially disastrous blink of an eye? I don’t think it will be so fast,But MySpace had 800 million users at its peak, just as many as ChatGPT does now, and that disappeared with extreme rapidity after Rupert Murdoch bought it,So I don’t think AI is a bubble – yet,Listen to the whole podcast at this link, on Spotify or Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The AI boom is heralding a new gold rush in the American westAI poses unprecedented threats.Congress must act now | Bernie Sanders | The GuardianElon Musk’s X fined €120m by EU in first clash under new digital lawsArtificial intelligence research has a slop problem, academics say: ‘It’s a mess’Is AI making us stupid? – podcast
BoE predicts budget measures will lower inflation, and denies uncertainty caused unusual bond market volatility – as it happened
Senior members of the Bank of England are appearing before the Treasury committee now.MPs will hear from deputy governors Clare Lombardelli and Sir Dave Ramsden, as well as two external members of the Monetary Policy Committee – Swati Dhingra and Catherine Mann.The quartet are without governor Andrew Bailey, who isn’t available due to “an unavoidable international commitment”.They will discuss the Bank’s decision to maintain interest rates at 4% in November, and also its latest Monetary Policy Report.Time to recap
Moonpig’s use of AI to design and personalise cards drives up sales
The online card service Moonpig has reported a bump in sales thanks in part to its increased use of AI to help design cards, personalise customers’ messages and answer queries.The company said sales rose 6.7% to £169m in the six months to 31 October and had remained strong in the weeks since then, largely as a result of increased orders and spend per order at its main Moonpig brand.“AI is now designing a lot of cards for us,” said its chief executive, Nickyl Raithatha. He said technology had helped create everything from baby and birthday cards to corporate greetings linked to a particular business
Home movers in Great Britain could get just £30 of energy use without account
Consumers in Great Britain moving to a new home will have about two weeks to set up an energy account before their lights go out, under plans to cut growing gas and electricity debt.Energy meters could soon be remotely switched to prepayment mode when the previous resident moves out, under proposals put forward by the industry regulator, leaving the next resident £30 of credit to settle into their home.However, once this amount has been used, which on average would take about a fortnight, they would be left in the dark unless they had set up a new account with an energy supplier.The plan to nudge households to set up their accounts sooner is part of an attempt by the regulator, Ofgem, to tackle Britain’s record energy debt, which has climbed to almost £4.5bn, or more than twice as high as it was before the energy crisis
Western carmakers ‘in fight for lives’ against Chinese rivals, says Ford boss
The boss of Ford has said western carmakers are “in a fight for our lives” against Chinese competition as the US manufacturer agreed a new partnership with France’s Renault.The two companies said on Tuesday that they would work together on two smaller electric cars, with the first to go on sale as soon as early 2028. They will also look at producing vans together.“We know we’re in a fight for our lives in our industry,” Jim Farley told journalists in Paris. “There is no better example than here in Europe
‘Bring it on!’: growing support in England for four-day week in schools
“A wonderful idea”, “Bring it on!”, “Yes!”, “Brilliant!”, “Absolutely”. If enthusiasm were all it took to change policy, a four-day week in England’s schools would be all but guaranteed.A Guardian report this week saying that the 4 Day Week Foundation has urged the government to pilot a four-day working week in schools in England and Wales to boost teacher wellbeing and recruitment attracted hundreds of thousands of readers.Teachers and parents responding to a subsequent Guardian callout were overwhelmingly supportive, though many were unsure about the logistics.Jo Hopkins, a 55-year-old London development director and mother of 11-year-old twins, liked the idea of a four-day week for pupils
UK fraud prevention ‘still lacking’ after Covid-related scams and errors cost £11bn
Ministers have been warned that fraud prevention efforts are falling short across government, as a major Covid report found that fraud and errors had resulted in a £10.9bn loss to UK taxpayers during the pandemic.The report, by the independent Covid counter-fraud commissioner Tom Hayhoe, found that government schemes designed to support struggling businesses and their staff were rolled out at speed with no early safeguards, resulting in huge fraud risks that cost the public purse.Weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting were the main failures behind the £10.9bn loss, but Hayhoe also concluded that fraud prevention was “insufficiently embedded in thinking and practice across government”
EU opens investigation into Google’s use of online content for AI models
Australia launches a social media ban – and is AI a bubble about to pop?
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