Australia months away from launching World’s first social media ban for under-16s

Australia is set to introduce what’s described as the world’s first laws banning under-16s from social media.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese announced “world-leading” measures due to become law next year, citing risks to child physical and mental health, in particular the harm to girls caused by depictions of body image, and misogynist content aimed at boys.

Australia is trialling an age-verification system to assist in blocking children from accessing social media platforms, as part of the range of measures that include some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date.

Cuba was battered by a fierce Category 3 hurricane on Thursday which knocked out the country’s power grid, leaving the entire population of 10 million people without power.

The magnitude of the impact remained unclear through the early hours of the day, but forecasters warned that Hurricane Rafael could bring “life-threatening” storm surges, winds and flash floods.

Tech & Science Daily podcast pays tribute to the “remarkably talented” technology journalist and industry founder Steve O’Hear, who died last month aged 49 following a short illness.

He was previously a much-respected writer and veteran interviewer with a reputation for bringing in scoops for over a decade with news site TechCrunch, before transitioning his career into strategic communications, as SVP with on-demand delivery platform Zapp and co-founder of his eponymous agency, O’Hear & Co.

Navid Hadzaad, founder and CEO of Zapp, shares memories of his friend and much-respected colleague.
Plus, why 2024 is set to be record hottest year, and metal detectorist strikes gold with GB-shaped nugget.