Social Media Watch

Is Australian Social Media Age-Gating Working? | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org

pgnewser April 13, 2026 0

Blurb:

Just over three months ago, Australia’s world-leading regulations attempting to ban social media use by under-16s came into force. The relevant regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, has released its first compliance report on the effectiveness of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024. The report makes interesting reading, given the number of countries apparently considering whether to emulate the Australian endeavors.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the eSafety Commissioner finds “progress” to be remarkably modest. Based on a survey of 898 parents and caregivers of children age eight to 15 taken between January 19 and February 2, 2026, the commissioner reports that while just under half reported their children having their own account on at least one of the banned platforms prior to the law coming into force on December 10, 2025, that proportion decreased to only 31.3 percent in the survey period.

US jury finds Meta, Alphabet liable in landmark social media addiction case | Social Media News– www.aljazeera.com

pgnewser March 26, 2026 0

Blurb:

A California jury found ⁠Alphabet’s Google and Meta liable for $3m in damages in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit that accused the companies of being legally responsible for the addictive design of their platforms.

The decision was handed down by a Los Angeles-based jury on Wednesday after more than 40 hours of deliberation across nine days, and more than a month after jurors heard opening statements in the trial.

Meta, Google risk Big Tobacco-like fallout after addiction trial verdict | Tech News– www.business-standard.com

pgnewser March 26, 2026 0

Blurb:

A landmark jury verdict holding Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google liable for harming a young user with products designed to be addictive threatens to put the social networking companies in the same category as Big Tobacco and opioid makers — a potential crack in their shield from legal responsibility for what happens on their platforms.

 While the $6 million in damages a jury in Los Angeles awarded to the 20-year-old plaintiff — which the companies vowed to appeal — will barely register on their balance sheets, the impact of the verdict will likely be more damaging and harder to quantify. The loss, in the first of thousands of product-liability lawsuits against Meta, Google and other social networks, is the kind of black eye that often leads to an increase in government regulations.

DOJ and States to Appeal Google’s Slap on the Wrist in Search Antitrust Case– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser February 4, 2026 0

Blurb:

The DOJ and multiple states have filed notices to appeal a federal court ruling in the Google Search antitrust case that imposed limited restrictions on the internet giant’s conquest of the search and AI market. The verdict was so friendly to Google that one analyst called it “a home run for the status quo.”

Bloomberg reports that the DOJ and a coalition of states announced Tuesday they will appeal a September 2025 federal court decision that is widely considered to be the best case scenario for Big Tech following a landmark antitrust case. The appeal targets a ruling by US District Judge Amit Mehta that allowed the tech giant to avoid major structural changes despite being found guilty of operating an illegal monopoly in the search market.

Paris prosecutors raid X offices as part of investigation into child abuse images– abcnews.go.com

pgnewser February 3, 2026 0

Blurb:

PARIS — French prosecutors searched the offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform X on Tuesday as part of a preliminary investigation into a range of alleged offences, including spreading child sexual abuse images and deepfakes.

The investigation was opened in January last year by the prosecutors’ cybercrime unit, the Paris prosecutors’ office said in a statement. It is looking into alleged “complicity” in possession and spreading of pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges.

In addition, prosecutors filed a request for “voluntary interviews” of Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X from 2023 to 2025, scheduled for April 20. Employees of the platform X have also been summoned that same week in April to be heard as witnesses, the statement said.

French lawmakers to vote on social media ban for children– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser January 27, 2026 0

Blurb:

PARIS: French lawmakers on Monday (Jan 26) were set to vote on draft legislation to ban social media for under-15s, an effort championed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to protect children from excessive screen time.

The legislation, which also provides for a ban on mobile phones in high schools, follows Australia banning social media for under-16s in December, a world first.

As social media has grown around the world, so has concern that too much screen time is arresting child development and contributing to declining mental health in minors.

“The emotions of our children and teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated, either by American platforms or Chinese algorithms,” Macron said in a video broadcast on Saturday.

UK Government Threatens Potential Ban of Elon Musk’s X over AI Use– slaynews.com

pgnewser January 15, 2026 0

Blurb:

The socialist UK government is mulling plans to ban the social media giant X, owned by Elon Musk, over supposed online safety concerns.

UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has voiced support for regulator Ofcom to potentially restrict access to X if the platform fails to comply with national online safety laws.

The nation’s censors are specifically citing the use of X’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Grok, which has been used to manipulate digital images.

The government argues that it is a crime to create AI-generated images of people without their consent.

Foreign Fake MAGA Anti-Israel Accounts Exposed In X “Location” Disclosure– legalinsurrection.com

pgnewser November 25, 2025 0

Blurb:

If you have spent any time on X (fka Twitter), you know that it is a cesspool of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, frequently neo-Nazi accounts that purport to be “America First” and “MAGA” and posting from the United States, frequently red states.

The X algorithms for the “For You” feed were unbearable.

But I and many others suspected that many, if not most, of these accounts, particularly the ones that purported to be “MAGA” were fakes.

California’s Digital ID Plans Advance After Appeals Court Boost– slaynews.com

pgnewser November 10, 2025 0

Blurb:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just given a huge boost to California’s plan to continue building one of the most expansive digital verification regimes in the country.

The appeals court refused to rehear NetChoice v. Bonta, leaving in place a ruling that allows California to advance a system critics warn could become a statewide online digital ID requirement.

The court’s decision keeps intact most of Senate Bill 976, the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act.

The bill was signed by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2024.

The law forces social media companies to implement “age assurance” systems to determine whether users are adults or minors.

Texas AG final­izes $1 bil­lion set­tle­ment with Google for vio­lat­ing Tex­ans’ pri­va­cy rights– www.lifesitenews.com

pgnewser November 5, 2025 0

Blurb:

The state of Texas has secured an “historic” $1.375 billion settlement agreement with Google

The October 31 announcement from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office marked the conclusion of two of the largest data privacy enforcement actions ever brought by a single state against the tech giant. Paxton sued Google for unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data regarding geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data in 2022.

“This historic $1.375 billion price tag for Google’s misconduct sends a clear warning to all of Big Tech that I will take aggressive action against any company that misuses Texans’ data and violates their privacy,” said Paxton in a press release. “If Big Tech thinks they can get away with abusing user data and illegally spying on Texans without consequences, I will make sure they are proven wrong. This monumental settlement is a testament to my office’s commitment to taking on the biggest companies in the world and securing victory on behalf of Texans.”

“The settlement obtained by Attorney General Paxton for these combined abuses far eclipses that of any other one state’s settlement against Google for similar claims, with the largest single-state settlement to date outside of Texas being $93 million,” declared the AG office.  “Additionally, a forty-state coalition secured $391 million in its privacy case against Google, which is almost one billion dollars less than what Attorney General Paxton secured for Texas alone.”

Congressmen Demand Netflix Explain ‘Demonic’ Transgender Content in Children’s Shows– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser October 15, 2025 0

Blurb:

Tennessee Republican Congressman Tim Burchett is calling for Netflix executives to explain the massive amounts of “demonic” transgender content in its children’s programing.

Burchett and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R, KY) have presented the streamer with a letter calling executives to a committee hearing after learning of the cartoon series called, Dead End: Paranormal Park, which was aimed at children under 13, featured a transgender main character.

“We need to get them for the committee and ask them what their intentions are with this and if, in fact, they realize what the heck is going on,” Rep. Burchett told Fox News.

Newsom Forces Apple And Google To Track Kids’ Ages Under New California Law– dailycaller.com

pgnewser October 14, 2025 0

Blurb:

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a first-in-the-nation law that forces operating systems and app stores to pass along users’ age brackets to apps — a win for Big Tech over Hollywood in a year-long fight over how to police kids online.

The Digital Age Assurance Act, carried by Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, pushes age-gating up the stack to Apple, Google and other OS makers starting Jan. 1, 2027, with civil penalties up to $7,500 per child for willful violations. It avoids photo-ID uploads and instead has parents enter a birth date at device setup; apps must request the resulting age signal via API.

Netflix value continues to plummet as subscribers reject its trans grooming of kids– www.lifesitenews.com

pgnewser October 6, 2025 0

Netflix value continues to plummet as subscribers reject its trans grooming of kids– www.lifesitenews.com
Source Link
Excerpt:


(LifeSiteNews) — Netflix has ended this week having lost an estimated $25 billion in stock value.

On October 1, Elon Musk encouraged his 227 million X followers to cancel their subscriptions following troubling accounts of the giant streaming platform pushing radical transgender messaging on young children and teens.

In one of many posts calling for the boycott of Netflix, Musk wrote “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.”  The post has been viewed over 90 million times and has received 1 million “Likes.”

<b>Macron rejects Trump's plan for Greenland, proposal for Putin to mediate Israel-Iran crisis</b>- <i> www.cbc.ca</i>

Trump’s YouTube-Insurrection Settlement Will Fund Golden White House Ballroom– www.vanityfair.com

pgnewser October 3, 2025 0

<b>Macron rejects Trump's plan for Greenland, proposal for Putin to mediate Israel-Iran crisis</b>- <i> www.cbc.ca</i>

Trump’s YouTube-Insurrection Settlement Will Fund Golden White House Ballroom– www.vanityfair.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

Over the summer, the Trump administration announced that it would construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House, which press secretary Karoline Leavitt described to reporters as a “much-needed and exquisite addition.” Not surprisingly, a rendering looks very Versailles-esque and includes an unrestrained use of the color gold; though the room was initially expected to have a seating capacity for 650 people, Trump later said it would hold 900.) In a statement that she may or may not have been contractually obligated to release, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told the public: “President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail.” Following the announcement, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wondered aloud. “Where’d this money come from? Did Congress appropriate it? I don’t think so. It’s almost like DOGE was never about waste.” In September, CBS reported that a collection of individual and corporate donors—including Google, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir—had pledged to donate nearly $200 million for construction costs.

American TikTok deal doesn’t address the platform’s potential for manipulation, only who profits– phys.org

pgnewser October 3, 2025 0

American TikTok deal doesn’t address the platform’s potential for manipulation, only who profits– phys.org
Source Link
Excerpt:

On Sept. 25, the Donald Trump administration in the United States again extended the TikTok ban-or-divest law, possibly for the last time. The latest extension to the law, which was passed in 2024 by the Joe Biden administration, includes a deal to transfer TikTok to American owners as a condition required to avoid a ban.

This raises the question on the validity of the warnings about the app as a tool of Chinese influence and whether American ownership will help.

Canada should be watching closely, because anxieties about foreign manipulation and social media exist north of the border, too. These range from bans on TikTok and concerns about Beijing-linked surveillance to efforts like Bill C-18 aimed at safeguarding domestic news sources.

What happens in the Canadian information environment has always been shaped by the U.S., a dependence that is even more precarious now that American politics has turned hostile to Canada.