YouTube will be included in Australia's social media ban for children after all
Australia had planned to exempt YouTube from the forthcoming social media ban, on the grounds that it's an educational tool. This irked other platforms, with Meta and TikTok urging the country's government to backtrack on the exclusion.
This move didn't sit too well with YouTube and parent company Alphabet. A company spokesperson told CNN that this decision 'reverses a clear, public commitment' from the government to treat the platform as an educational tool. YouTube Kids isn't included in the ban because it doesn't allow users to upload videos or comment.
The government said this reversal was largely influenced by a survey released by Australia's independent online regulator, the eSafety Commission. It found that 37 percent of children surveyed had reported seeing harmful content on YouTube. This includes stuff like dangerous online challenges, fight videos and hateful rhetoric.
Communications Minister Anika Wells recently spoke to the Australian Parliament and noted that "YouTube uses the same persuasive design features as other social media platforms, like infinite scroll, like autoplay and algorithmic feed." She went on to say that she accepted the results of the aforementioned survey and that YouTube "should not be treated differently from other social media platforms."
The ban originally passed at the tail-end of last year, though some of the details have yet to be ironed out. The government has until December to finalize everything. We do know that the ban puts the onus on the actual platforms to prevent children from opening up accounts, as they'll face hefty fines of up to nearly $50 million Australian dollars ($32 million USD) if they don't comply.
'Kids, God bless them, are going to find a way around this. Maybe they're all going to swarm on LinkedIn. We don't know,' Minister Wells said. My hunch is that it'll be more VPN than LinkedIn.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
Are you as financially literate as a high school student? Take our quiz.
You might think you know a lot about credit and banking, taxes and insurance. Four teenagers from Scripps Ranch High School probably know more. A four-student team from the San Diego school won the 2025 National Personal Finance Challenge, a financial literacy contest that ended in June in Atlanta. If you feel like testing your own financial literacy, take our 10-question quiz, below. It's an abbreviated version of the contest's final round. But first, take a minute to read about how the San Diego students won. The event, which started with nearly 18,000 students, is part of a national campaign to encourage personal finance study in school. It seems to be working: 38 states now require personal finance for graduation, up from 23 states in 2022. 'This is a real discipline with a real set of things you need to know,' said Christopher Caltabiano, chief program officer at the Council for Economic Education, which runs the contest. 'This is stuff you use every single day of your life.' What is 'negative equity'? These students knew. For the Scripps Ranch students, the trip to Atlanta ended in high drama. They won the contest by a single point, edging out a talented team from Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. Scripps Ranch would have lost by a point. The team persuaded contest judges to change their minds on two quiz questions it had missed. One question asked for the term for a home or car loan whose balance exceeds what the asset is worth. The team's answer was 'negative equity,' which is correct. But the judges were looking for 'upside down,' which is a colloquial term for negative equity. 'So, initially, they didn't give it to us,' said Robert Schumann, 17, who is a rising Scripps Ranch senior this fall. 'From what we've seen, nobody has ever won a challenge, so we were stressing out a little bit that we got it incorrect.' The second challenge came on this question: What is the first thing you should do if you think you're the victim of a scam? Freeze your assets, the Scripps Ranch team replied. The correct answer: Call your bank. 'We said it's kind of inferred that you'd call your bank,' whose first move would be to freeze your assets, Schumann said. The judges ultimately agreed. They learned financial literacy from YouTube and AI Scripps Ranch High sits in California, one of the states that now require personal finance education. But the mandate doesn't take effect until 2027. 'These students really self-learned and self-taught themselves,' said Ian Rasmuson, a Scripps Ranch teacher who coached the winning team. Rasmuson himself teaches history. Students revived the school's idle entrepreneurship club last year, hoping to invite guest speakers to talk about business and finance. 'We kind of just wanted to teach people about these topics,' said Ryan Langsam Williams, 17, a rising senior who joined the team. 'What I had in mind was to do competitions like these, and to have everyone in the club involved.' He found the National Personal Finance Challenge online. To prepare, the team reviewed coursework on the Council for Economic Education website, studied past contests, watched YouTube videos and used AI to generate practice quizzes. 'We don't have a personal finance class at our school,' Schumann said. Take a 10-question quiz from the Personal Finance Challenge Here are 10 questions from the final round of the 2025 National Personal Finance Challenge. You'll find the answers below. 'I think you should feel pretty darn good about yourself if you get seven out of 10,' Caltabiano said. The answers: 1) Principal. 2) Passkey. 3) Underwriting. 4) Gig. 5) A cash advance. 6) Comprehensive. 7) A Flexible Spending Account. 8) Inflation risk. 9) A call feature. 10) Income stock.
New York Post
23 minutes ago
- New York Post
Bill Maher spars with Rep. Jason Crow on possibility of Mamdani as NYC mayor: ‘We've never had someone this radical'
Comedian Bill Maher sparred Friday with one of his guests, Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., when the lawmaker dismissed criticism of New York City's Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a 'contrived villain or boogeyman.' 'He's not contrived. He's gonna be the mayor of New York,' Maher argued. The late-night show host cited Mamdani's 'Marxist' positions, such as the 'abolition of private property,' after he declared that the Big Apple has 'never had someone this radical.' 'There's a lot of opposition [to Mamdani] because we've never had someone this radical,' Maher warned. 'Some of the things he says, you know he quotes Marxists, 'each according to their need.' I mean, that's straight up Communism.' Meanwhile, Rep. Crow maintained that a 'boogeyman' like Mamdani comes around every election cycle for Republicans. 'They always try to create a villain is my point,' he said. 'They always try to create some boogeyman or bogeywoman.' 'No, these are quotes. I'm not creating anything, I'm quoting [Mamdani],' Maher debated. The comedian's second guest, columnist James Kirchick, did not hesitate to chime in about the criticism Mamdani has received from conservatives. 3 Comedian Bill Maher argued that mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani will win the election. Real Time with Bill Maher/YouTube 3 Rep. Jason Crow maintained that a 'boogeyman' like Mamdani comes around every election cycle. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post 'Everything that the crazy far-right alleged about Obama – wasn't born in America, Islamist, socialist, antisemite, hates America, it's all true about this guy [Mamdani],' Kirchick claimed. Kirchick went on to describe what he finds the 'most appalling' about Mamdani. 'He defends the expression 'globalize the intifada,' which explicitly means – and I don't wanna hear anyone deny this – it means kill Jews whenever and wherever you can find them,' Kirchick added. The 'Secret City' author hit both sides of the political aisle, comparing Democrats who are not refusing to endorse Mamdani to Republicans 10 years ago, who were 'letting Trump go on and on and they weren't standing up to him.' 3 Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. LP Media 'I feel with this guy we're seeing the same sort of cowardice and spinelessness,' Kirchick asserted. In July, the New York Times reported that Mamdani told a group of business leaders he would not use the phrase 'globalize the intifada,' and he would 'discourage' others from using it. The American Pulse polling firm conducted a survey in July, in which it found that 30% of New York City voters support Mamdani's refusal to condemn the phrase 'globalize the intifada' and his backing of the anti-Israel boycott movement.
Business Insider
24 minutes ago
- Business Insider
I got a job within 30 days by sending personalized slide decks in place of cover letters. See how I did it.
Julissa Machado pivoted from recruiting to sales using creative job application tactics. She used visual decks instead of cover letters, aligning with company branding guidelines. This approach led to her hiring in a sales development role at a software company. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Julissa Machado, a 27-year-old sales development representative, based in Tampa, Florida. It's been edited for length and clarity. In 2024, when I decided to pivot my career from recruiting to sales, without any direct sales experience, I knew I'd have to get creative with my job applications to stand out. Then I remembered a hack I learned while working in hiring. While working for a difficult manager who didn't want to read through résumés, I came up with the idea of pitching him quality clients by making visual decks showcasing career highlights — and he liked it. So, I decided to swap out my own cover letters for a deck. I personalized every slide using each company's colors, fonts, and logo, which I found on company websites under " branding guidelines." I figured that if a recruiter saw my headshot next to their company's logo and branding, it would psychologically signal that I aligned with them. I got hired for a sales development role for a software company a month later. This is what I put on each slide. Slide 1: Starts with my name. On the first slide, I put my name at the center, with the company I was applying to as the subhead. Slide 2: Has a favorite quote. Slide 3: Lists my qualifications. On the third slide, I spoke directly about how I matched the role's responsibilities, requirements, and skills. For others, this might look like highlighting their experience using a certain technology or showcasing a certain skill using metrics. Slide 4: Highlights some facts about myself. Slide 5: Showcases my big wins from previous jobs. Slide 6: Shares how I align with the company's values. This is where I spoke to my alignment with the company's core values, which I typically found on the company's career page or LinkedIn. I would also include a photo that was niche to the company, like its headquarters or a nice setup it had at a convention. For this, I removed the background, wrapped the text around it, and made it look as integrated into the deck as possible. It's a bit extra, but I've gotten some great feedback on that last slide.
