The ban on social media for under-16s in Australia, intended to protect mental health, is reportedly causing increased feelings of isolation among some teens. They argue that these platforms are integral to their social lives, and being cut off from peers is more harmful than the risks the ban aims to prevent.
The emerging "blouge" wine style (co-fermenting red and white grapes) is more than a novelty; it's an adaptation to climate change. As heatwaves cause red grapes to over-ripen into overly alcoholic wines, vintners add white grapes to lower the alcohol content and restore the freshness and acidity lost during hot seasons.
The next wave of social media regulation is moving beyond content moderation to target core platform design. The EU and US legal actions are scrutinizing features like infinite scroll and personalized algorithms as potentially "addictive." This focus on platform architecture could fundamentally alter the user experience for both teens and adults.
To navigate millions of documents, journalists trained a large language model to analyze and score Jeffrey Epstein's emails based on how disturbing they would be to an average reader. This AI-driven approach filtered the massive dataset down to 1,500 highly relevant email threads, showcasing a new method for investigative journalism.
Data analysis of Jeffrey Epstein's emails reveals his network was not confined to his financial background. It was exceptionally broad, including elites from science, technology, and law. A quarter of his non-staff contacts had their own Wikipedia pages, indicating a strategic cultivation of influence across various power centers.
Despite widespread public and political support for banning under-16s from social media, many child protection groups are against such measures. They argue that blanket bans don't eliminate risks but instead push harmful activities to less-regulated platforms, making children harder to protect and draining focus from more effective safety solutions.