A survey of 1,050 Australian teens found that roughly 60% retained access to social media accounts after the government's ban, with two-thirds reporting that platforms took no action to remove their accounts.
Australia's social media ban for under-16s, implemented in late 2024, appears to have limited effectiveness based on new survey data. The findings reveal significant gaps in platform enforcement and user workarounds.
Approximately 60% of surveyed teens maintained active access to their accounts despite the ban. Two-thirds said social media platforms took no steps to deactivate or delete their accounts, suggesting minimal compliance from major platforms.
The results highlight the challenge of age-verification enforcement across digital platforms. Teenagers reportedly used various methods to circumvent restrictions, including VPNs, parental accounts, and creating new profiles with false age information.
Platforms including Meta, TikTok, and others have faced criticism for inconsistent implementation of the ban. The survey suggests many companies deprioritized account removal efforts, focusing instead on age-gating mechanisms that proved easy to bypass.
The data underscores the difficulty of implementing blanket restrictions in the digital space without robust verification systems and platform cooperation.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is blending tech-friendly policies with economic populism by proposing that Americans receive equity shares in AI companies. The proposal signals a strategic shift as he prepares for a likely presidential run.
Uber and Lyft drivers in Massachusetts have established the first unionized ride-share workforce in the United States, marking a significant shift in labor organizing within the gig economy sector.
India announced 1.28 trillion rupees ($13.3 billion) in additional funding to expand its semiconductor production capacity. The investment builds on a $10 billion incentive program launched in 2021 that successfully attracted major manufacturers including Micron.
New York became the first state to issue a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, responding to growing concerns about energy consumption and infrastructure strain from the proliferation of these facilities.