Australian Parliament considers law banning kids under 16 from social media
Australia’s communications minister has officially introduced a law that would ban children under 16 from social media. If passed, the law would be the first of its kind in the world.
The communications minister said government research shows 95% of Australian caregivers say online safety is one of their “toughest parenting challenges.”
When introducing the bill, she also told Parliament almost two-thirds of Australian teens 14 to 17 years old have viewed “extremely harmful content” online, including posts involving drug abuse, suicide or self-harm and violence. She added a quarter have been exposed to content promoting unsafe eating habits.
The bill has wide political support and is expected to become law. Social media companies would have one year to figure out how to implement the age restriction, if passed.
The platforms would also face fines of up to AU$50 million if they misuse the personal information users give them for age verification purposes.
The age restriction law wouldn’t apply to messaging services, online games or platforms that “substantially support the health and education of users.”
A government statement added Australia is looking for ways to prevent children under 18 from accessing online pornography.
Instagram testing algorithm reset feature to improve teen safety
Instagram is testing a new feature that’s allowing users to reset their algorithm. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said the update was launched specifically with the safety of teens in mind.
“We want to make sure everyone on Instagram, especially teens, has safe, positive, age-appropriate experiences and feels the time they’re spending on Instagram is valuable,” a company blog post Tuesday, Nov. 19, said.
This comes as multiple studies have shown the harmful effects social media can have on teens. That includes research by the Journal of the American Medical Association that found teens who spend more than three hours a day on those platforms can double their risk of depression and anxiety.
Instagram said the new feature will allow users to be able to clear the recommended content across their explore, reels and feed tabs with a manual reset.
The app will then start suggesting more personalized topics that may be different from what users usually see.
It will also help users improve the algorithm recommendations by offering an “interested” and “not interested” feature.
While the algorithm reset is only in a testing phase now, Instagram plans to roll it out globally.
It’s not clear exactly when the company will implement the feature.
Florida teen accused of threatening Democratic voters with machete
A Florida teen is facing aggravated assault charges after he allegedly wielded a machete to intimidate Democratic voters outside a polling place. Caleb Williams, 18, was arrested Tuesday, Oct. 29, outside a voting precinct in Neptune Beach — which is in the Jacksonville area.
Police said the registered Republican was among a group of teens accused of intimidating Democratic voters. Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key said the group approached people waving Harris-Walz signs and an argument ensued.
Investigators said Williams “brandished a machete in an aggressive, threatening posture over his head.”
“This goes way beyond expressing freedom of speech,” Key said. “To say your piece is a First Amendment-protected right, but that goes out the window the moment you raise a machete over your head in a threatening manner.”
Authorities say right now, none of the other members of the group are facing charges. They said their actions didn’t “cross the criminal threshold,” however, the investigation is ongoing.
Florida teen’s suicide linked to AI chatbot, family lawsuit claims
A Florida mother has filed a lawsuit against Character.AI, alleging the company’s chatbot manipulated her 14-year-old son into taking his own life. The lawsuit claims the boy developed an emotional attachment to the chatbot, leading to his death in February.
Megan Garcia, the mother of Sewell Setzer III, is suing the chatbot company for negligence, wrongful death, and deceptive trade practices after her son’s suicide.
Setzer had been using an AI chatbot modeled after the “Game of Thrones” character Daenerys Targaryen, interacting with it extensively for months.
According to the lawsuit, Setzer became obsessed with the bot, and his emotional dependence worsened, ultimately contributing to his tragic decision to take his life.
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Garcia said that her son, who had been diagnosed with anxiety and a mood disorder, changed after engaging with the AI. He became withdrawn, stopped participating in activities he once loved, and increasingly relied on his interactions with the chatbot, which he believed he had fallen in love with.
On the day of his death, he communicated with the chatbot one last time, expressing his love, before taking his life.
We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously and we are continuing to add new safety features that you can read about here:…
Arizona teen charged with terrorism in connection with Pride parade plot
Authorities in Arizona said a teenager will be charged as an adult in connection with a planned terror attack on a Phoenix Pride parade. A grand jury indicted 17-year-old Marvin Jalo in October 2024 on felony terrorism charges for allegedly planning to bomb the parade in a show of support for ISIS.
Jalo will be tried as an adult and is being held on a $1 million cash-only bond. The indictment says Jalo was working with two co-conspirators; one who is “unnamed” and another only referred to as “Juvenile A.”
Court documents revealed Jalo was arrested at his home for an unrelated incident, according to Fox 10 News in Phoenix.
The documents also said Jalo’s mother told police she suspected her son was planning “in chat rooms, with the use of his cell phone, speaking with other subjects whom she described as terrorists, who had been conspiring to conduct a possible attack.”
The indictment showed Jalo confirmed to police he had been speaking with extremists who were actively recruiting him.
Harris, Trump look for votes in battlegrounds with 2 weeks to go
With exactly two weeks to go until Election Day, both candidates for president are blitzing the battleground states. And we’ve learned how long student loan repayments for about eight million Americans will remain on hold. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
Harris, Trump look for more votes in battlegrounds with 2 weeks to go
With two weeks to go until Election Day, the presidential candidates are crisscrossing the country trying to pick up any undecided voters that remain.
.@Liz_Cheney: Vice President Harris is going to defend our Constitution. We're not always gonna agree, but I know Vice President Harris will always do what she believes is right for this country. She has a sincere heart, and that's why I'm honored to support her pic.twitter.com/lcFD6MGDSF
“So, I think that we are facing a choice in this election; it’s not about party, it’s about right and wrong,” Cheney said. “And I certainly have many Republicans who will say to me, ‘I can’t be public.’ They do worry about a whole range of things including violence, but they’ll do the right thing.”
In Wisconsin, Harris described her opponent former President Donald Trump as “unstable,” referencing comments made by former Trump cabinet members.
“I think it’s very important that we acknowledge — and I have said publicly that Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris said, “and the consequences of him ever being President of United States again are brutally serious. Brutally serious.”
Former President Trump visited North Carolina on Monday where he surveyed the damage created by Hurricane Helene and continued his criticism of the Biden administration’s relief efforts.
“The power of nature, nothing you can do about it, but you got to get a little bit better crew and to do a better job than has been done by the White House,” Trump said. “It’s been not good. Not good. I’m here today in western North Carolina to express a simple message to the incredible people of the state: I’m with you and the American people are with you all the way. We’re going to continue to be with you. We’ll see what happens with the election. And we’re, on January 20th, you’re going to have, I think, a new crew coming in to do it properly and help you in a proper manner.”
Trump made two more stops while in North Carolina Monday, holding a rally and speaking at a faith leaders’ event.
On Tuesday, Oct. 22, former President Trump will continue campaigning in North Carolina with a rally in Greensboro, and Vice President Harris will sit down for an interview with NBC News in Washington, D.C.
Blinken in Israel to revive Gaza cease-fire talks after Sinwar death
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel once again — his 11th visit to the region since war broke out between Israel and Hamas a little more than a year ago.
On my way to Israel and other stops in the Middle East for intensive discussions about the importance of ending the war in Gaza, returning the hostages to their families, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people. pic.twitter.com/lIaRUo7Ea2
This visit is the first stop on a wider tour of the Middle East in which Blinken is expected to revive talks for a cease-fire in Gaza in the wake of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Blinken’s weeklong trip comes as the Middle East braces for Israel’s response to an Iranian missile attack on Tel Aviv earlier this month.
Teen arrested after 2 adults, 3 children killed in shooting at Washington home
Officials with the King County Sheriff’s Office said another teenager who had been injured went to a Seattle hospital. They said that teenager and the teen in custody both live at the home where the shooting happened, but did not know the relationships between those teens and the five people killed.
“I just don’t know the relationships, so I’m going to withhold confirming any relationships, but it does appear to be that this is a family incident,” Deputy Mike Mellis told reporters Monday. “Clearly, a domestic violence incident that involves not only a young man — who’s now in significant trouble — and it involves firearms. Young men and firearms.”
Reports say he has chronic myeloid leukemia, a form of bone marrow cancer, and he’s undergoing treatment at Rikers Island prison in New York where he’s serving a 16-year sentence.
This is just the latest health issue Weinstein has faced behind bars. Last month, he had emergency heart surgery to alleviate a significant amount of fluid in his lungs and heart, and he was hospitalized in July with COVID-19 and double pneumonia.
Student loan payments pause extended for 8 million SAVE plan borrowers
Eight million Americans will be able to continue holding off paying back their student loans for at least another six months, the Department of Education confirmed on Monday.
The Education Department said save enrollees will be placed in an interest-free general forbearance for at least six months pending the outcome of legal challenges to the plan.
Cheapest World Series tickets costing at least $1,000 on secondary market
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees have each punched their ticket to the World Series and now if you want a ticket, you’ll need at least $1,000. According to SeatGeek, the cheapest single seat for the Game 1 in LA on Friday, Oct. 25, will cost $1,034.
For Game 2 on Saturday, Oct. 26, also at Dodger Stadium, the least expensive ticket is $1,209.
Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 28 and 29, head back to the East Coast, with the cheapest tickets for Yankees Stadium costing $1,385 and $1,110, respectively. A possible Game 5 is showing the same as Game 4.
And “if necessary,” Games 6 and 7 would be back in LA, with the cheapest tickets going for around $1,300 or more.
As for the good seats behind home plate at Dodger Stadium, those tickets are going for $1,500 or more.
Teen smoking drops to lowest level in 25 years: CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released new numbers on teen smoking. It seems that progress is being made toward less young smokers, with the lowest numbers for this age group in 25 years reported.
Researchers looked at data between 2023-2024 and found that middle and high school students who used any kind of tobacco product dropped 20%. The significant drop is mostly because of a decline in e-cigarette or vape use. In 2024, 1.63 million students said they used e-cigarettes, down from 2.13 million in 2023.
Cigarette smoking rates also reached record lows. Only 1.4% of students said they smoked tobacco. CDC officials believe the overall decline is because of price increases, smoke-free policies and social media campaigns targeted at students.
Health officials said reaching a 25-year low for youth tobacco product use is a huge milestone, but emphasize there’s still work to do.
The report found some disparities by race and ethnicity. Tobacco use rose among Native Americans and Alaska Native students while current use of nicotine pouches increased among white students.
The study included 30,000 students at more than 280 schools. The response rate was about 33%.
Texas AG sues doctor for providing gender-affirming care to minors
Texas is suing a Dallas doctor who is accused of providing gender-affirming care to minors. The lawsuit, announced by the state’s Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton Thursday, Oct. 17, alleges Dr. May Lau provided hormones to more than 20 minors in violation of a Texas ban that took effect last year.
This marks one of the first times any state has taken legal action to enforce a ban of this kind. Texas law bans transgender people under 18 from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries.
The lawsuit accuses Lau of “falsifying medical records, prescriptions, and billing records to represent that her testosterone prescriptions are for something other than transitioning a child’s biological sex or affirming a child’s belief that their gender identity is inconsistent with their biological sex.”
Paxton is asking the court for an injunction against Lau and for her to be fined as much as $10,000 per violation.
Leaked documents show TikTok execs know their app harms kids
Internal documents from Tiktok that leaked on Friday, Oct. 11, revealed that company executives knew the app was harmful to children and actively tried to keep them on the platform. A redaction failure exposed the documents which are part of an ongoing lawsuit against TikTok by 14 attorneys general across the United States.
Kentucky Public Radio obtained the documents filed by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman before they were resealed under court order.
The lawsuit said TikTok’s own research found “compulsive usage correlates with a slew of negative mental health effects like loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy and increased anxiety.”
Despite that, the lawsuit accused TikTok executives of maximizing engagement amongst youth while promoting child safety features that were ineffective. An internal memo from the company in 2019 states, “as expected, across most engagement metrics, the younger the user, the better the performance.”
The investigation found TikTok knew that a significant number of adults were messaging underage teens about stripping and sending virtual currency as gifts.
TikTok is also accused of adjusting the algorithm to remove content featuring “not attractive subjects.”
A spokesperson for TikTok said the complaint “cherry-picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety.”
FDA suicide warning on antidepressants may have opposite effect on kids
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long warned antidepressants have been linked to suicidal thoughts and behaviors among the youth. To raise awareness, “black box” warnings have been put on these medications since 2005.
Black box warnings, labels in bold black border on the medication or in the info pamphlet, highlight the medication’s risks.
The review found a link between black box warnings and decreased mental health care and increases in psychotropic drug overdoses and suicide deaths.
Psychotropic drugs affect how the brain functions and cause changes in mood, awareness, thoughts, feelings or behavior.
The study found even after putting black box warnings in place, doctors only monitored about 5% of pediatric patients as the FDA had recommended, which is about the same rate it was before the labels were added. Researchers said the warnings seemed to make doctors think again before prescribing antidepressants to kids and teens — with up to 50% declines in use after they were implemented. They say the same changes could be seen among young adults 18 to 24 years old.
The study’s authors said based on their findings, they recommend that instead of displaying prominent black box warnings, the FDA incorporate the concerns into the regular warnings list or even get rid of them altogether.
Depression is a leading cause of suicide in the U.S. and suicide is the second-leading cause of death among 10- to 14-year-olds and the third-leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
While researchers said they recognized the link between black box warnings and youth suicide rates, that does not necessarily mean the warnings are what caused the change.
Help is available for those struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm. You can call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential support 24/7.
