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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 6h

I don't think that's what we have been reporting. But I am kinda 🤷‍♂️ about debating it and most other media are just taking the government at face value on everything

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 7h

John Oliver assessing the stuff The Free Press publishes is the good stuff.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 7h

I'm working with what is in front of me and there's been no indication they're going to go after algos. "This may happen later" is hand-wavey stuff

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 7h

Not sure what you mean

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 8h

Senators and even eSafety seem to be unaware you can already use TikTok logged out. 🫠https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/sep/22/under-16s-may-still-see-gambling-violent-far-right-content-under-australia-social-media-ban-simply-by-not-logging-in-zero-neo-nazis

From zero to neo-Nazis: what under-16s may see under Australia’s social media ban, simply by not logging in

Guardian Australia test finds scrolling shortform videos while logged out of YouTube and TikTok quickly leads to gambling, violent and far-right content

www.theguardian.com

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 8h

OpenAI has also been asked to assess whether Sora 2 should be included in the social media ban by eSafety.

Sora 2 isn't yet available in Australia.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 8h

The eSafety commissioner has said she's told Google YouTube Kids and Google Classroom will likely be out of the social media ban

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 9h

Ian Corby from the age assurance lobby group says between 2 to 3 million people in the UK began using VPNs after age assurance was brought in there.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 11h

If PlayNow was still around it would absolutely meet the definition of a social media site and I wouldn't have been allowed on it when I started lol

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 12h

Leo making the point that the ban doesn't actually remove any harmful content.

"We're not actually addressing the harmful content. It kind of is giving the appearance of that."

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 12h

6News's @leopuglisi6.bsky.social says 6News would not exist if the social media ban was effect when he started it at age 11 in year 6 in 2019.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 13h

Both Headspace and Project Rockit making the point that if the ban is about getting kids to go outside and socialise in person, a lot of in-person places for young people are taken away now. They're moved on, can't hang around shopping centres etc anymore.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 13h

Yeah I've been chatting to them about this for a bit over a year now, they're very good.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 13h

Here's what she told them fwiw www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Social media ban will create a ‘social gap’ for young people, youth advocate says

The Senate committee looking at the under 16s social media ban and other age checks coming online has heard from youth advocacy organisation Project Rockit on what the ban will mean for young people when they’re kicked off social media from 10 December.

Caitlin Blanch, a member of Project Rockit’s national youth collective and a young disabled person from Tamworth, NSW, said for her social media was a “pivotal way” to make connections with other people with living experience that she could relate to, to find health information, and share her story.

She said:

I think that it’s been pivotal for my friend groups in finding representation of queer people that’s not stereotypical of finding cultural content that is not stigmatised. It’s had an incredibly impactful role on connecting otherwise isolated communities to places that they would not have access to, and for young people in regional Australia who perhaps have that physical isolation.

When the ban comes into effect, she said it will change how young people interact with the world:

It creates a social gap, but it also sends a narrative that young people don’t have the power to articulate their own narratives, that they can’t be in control of their agency online, and that they are responsible for the harmful content that they’re exposed to. And I don’t think that’s fair. I think there should be greater emphasis on the corporations that are in control of the algorithms.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 13h

Props to Project Rockit for bringing an actual young person, Caitlin Blanch, to speak to the committee given the policies are about them but mostly excludes them.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 14h

This committee also covers the search engine codes coming in www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Face age and ID checks? Using the internet in Australia is about to fundamentally change

New codes developed by the tech sector and eSafety commissioner come into effect in December, with major ramifications for internet users

www.theguardian.com

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 14h

Sarah Henderson pointing this out on the Yahoo homepage, arguing it is inappropriate content.

A buzzfeed article from Yahoo that shows two bald heads that look like a butt.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 14h

Yahoo now giving evidence at the inquiry.

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 "

media.tenor.com

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 14h

Google said they had briefed their US colleagues about the issues being dealt with in Australia at the moment, but couldn't say if those colleagues are lobbying the Trump administration on it.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 14h

Henderson keeps asking Lord whether Google is planning to sue the government. Lord says Google continues to engage with the government on it, but won't answer directly if a legal challenge is still a possibility.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 15h

Henderson says young people have been "betrayed" by the government with the decision to include YouTube in the ban.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 15h

Sarah Henderson begins her questions of YouTube's Rachel Lord about the decision to include YouTube in the ban by acknowledging Lord is married to Liberal senator Dave Sharma.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 15h

But LinkedIn is more like this site than those. And it is consistently three weeks old content. People generally want to go there to see the latest.

Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 15h

Microsoft being asked if they want to work to make algorithms less toxic... Should be asked why LinkedIn keeps surfacing three week old posts.

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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 16h

Starting soonish www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcuU...

Senate Environment and Communications References Committee | 13/10/2025

YouTube video by Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal

www.youtube.com

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