Unlike the 2021 rate shock, households are no longer protected by long-term fixed mortgages and ~$5 trillion in excess pandemic savings. With more variable-rate loans and depleted financial buffers, the housing market is now significantly more exposed to rising borrowing costs. A recent uptick in housing supply further adds to price pressure.
A major criticism of age-gating bans, like Australia's, is that they allow platforms to abdicate responsibility for child safety. Platforms can argue that since young people are not supposed to be on their sites, there is less impetus to invest in making them safer, shifting the onus entirely to enforcement rather than platform design.
The latest season of the Israeli thriller 'Fauda', produced after October 7th, departs from its previously more balanced portrayal of Palestinians. By presenting adversaries as less nuanced and more monstrous, the show acts as a cultural mirror, reflecting and explaining the hardening of Israeli public sentiment and the narrowing of empathy driven by national trauma.
Despite its Israeli perspective, 'Fauda' has topped Netflix charts in Lebanon and rated highly in other Arab countries. Its popularity suggests that compelling narrative storytelling, centered on universal themes like grief and conflict, can engage audiences across deep political divides more effectively than traditional news or official state diplomacy.
Australia's social media ban for minors highlights the failure of enforcement technology. AI-based age assurance is not accurate enough to distinguish between similar ages (e.g., 15 vs. 16). Meanwhile, more accurate ID-based systems face resistance from platforms concerned about the privacy and security risks of storing personal government IDs.