Yesterday
Assad’s wife given ‘50/50 chance’ of survival as leukaemia returns
Asma al-Assad is thought to have flown to Moscow for treatment some time before the Kremlin persuaded her husband to flee in the face of lightning rebel advances.
- Updated
- Ben Farmer
This Month
Meta settles Aussie Cambridge Analytica case for $50m
Facebook-owner Meta will appoint an independent administrator to distribute $50 million to thousands of Australians who were indirectly caught up in the 2018 data harvesting scandal.
- Tess Bennett
Publishers prepare to take on TikTok over news
News publishers have successfully campaigned to have TikTok-owner ByteDance included in the government’s revised media bargaining rules.
- Tess Bennett
Amazon to donate $1.6m to Trump fund as big tech curries favour
The move by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos follows Meta’s donation of the same amount to the fund this week.
- Karen Weise and Maggie Haberman
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Big tech should not be above the law of the land
In general, the last thing Australia needs is a new tax. But Meta’s thumbing its nose at Australia’s pioneering regulation justifies Labor’s attempt to lay down the law to the tech giants.
- The AFR View
Betashares shuts down string of ETFs, including surging metaverse fund
The asset manager said it had reviewed its ETFs and decided some had not attracted enough support. The metaverse fund only managed $8.7 million.
- Tess Bennett
- Updated
- Social media
Media groups to push Meta for payment after Labor announces TikTok tax
Apple and Microsoft could also be caught by the policy with their Apple News and LinkedIn products if they meet the $250 million Australian turnover threshold.
- Ronald Mizen and Amelia McGuire
Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram services start to return after outages
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp appear to be recovering after they suffered major outages.
- Paul Smith
Tech giants to be punished if they don’t pay for news
The big stick approach set to be announced on Thursday would force recalcitrant platforms to the negotiating table or risk being hit with penalties.
- Ronald Mizen
Manhunt for US executive’s killer becomes a search for motive
Luigi Mangione, charged with last week’s gruesome New York murder, has drawn a wave of morbid admiration.
- Oliver Barnes, Zehra Munir and Aiden Reiter
Judy Garland’s stolen ruby slippers sold for $44 million
A few bidders making offers by phone volleyed back and forth for 15 minutes as the price climbed to the eye-popping sum. Auctioneers had expected under $5 million.
- Steve Karnowski and Hannah Fingerhut
Labor targets Meta, Apple, Amazon and Google with tough new rules
Global tech giants face tough new rules and hefty fines as the government moves to stop digital giants unfairly pushing their own products onto consumers.
- Tom McIlroy and Michael Read
November
‘Black Friday sale on VPNs’: Social media ban faces early obstacles
Big tech has 12 months to comply with new laws that block children under 16 from accessing platforms, setting up Australia as a high-profile test case for the globe.
- Tess Bennett
Australia bans social media for under 16s. What do other countries do?
Australia has approved a social media ban for children aged under 16, one of the world’s toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.
- Reuters
Zuckerberg, Trump hold tense meeting to repair ties
The president-elect once called for the Facebook founder to be jailed for “plotting against” him over the 2020 election. Mark Zuckerberg is trying to make amends.
- Mike Isaac, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Theodore Schleifer
- Analysis
- Explainers
Worried about the social media ban for kids? Read this
The pioneering age-limit laws are set to be approved by the Senate on Thursday. Here’s what we know (and just as importantly what we don’t know) about how they will work.
- Paul Smith
Force big tech to pay for AI training data: Senate committee
A Senate committee has recommended the government force tech companies to pay publishers, authors and artists for content used to train their bots.
- Tess Bennett
Big tech’s warning on rushing teen ban on social media
The government’s proposed ban allowed the industry just a day to make fresh submissions in response to a bill introduced to parliament last week.
- Max Mason
‘Nanny state’: Top techies slate rushed social media laws
Australia’s tech sector was stunned at being given only 24 hours to respond to new social media laws, and warns they are ill-defined and risk unintended consequences.
- Paul Smith
Meta gains steam to push age verification upon app store giants
As Australia investigates age verification methods, the social media company wants the responsibility to fall upon the likes of Apple and Google rather than individual providers.
- Cristiano Lima-Strong, Cat Zakrzewski and Andrea Jiménez