This Month
Corpse flower ‘Putricia’ begins long-awaited stinky bloom
The giant foul-smelling flower began unfurling at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden for the first time in 15 years on Thursday.
- Updated
- Neve Brissenden
Optus says tough new scam rules are ‘unworkable’
New rules to stop scams are “unworkable and ineffective”, Optus says. But billionaire Andrew Forrest wants the government to go further.
- Jenny Wiggins
Meet Boardy, the ‘Aussie’ AI networker that’s the talk of LinkedIn
An AI agent with a warm Australian accent, created by a US start-up, promises to call, chat and then make professional introductions.
- Tess Bennett
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Look to AI, not TikTok, for Trump’s China intentions
Trump’s TikTok’s reprieve is a sideshow that reflects his personal popularity on the platform. He will fight much harder in the real geopolitical technological battle – the global struggle for AI supremacy.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Opinion
TikTok ban repeats the tech regulation cobra effect
History shows digital bans don’t eliminate threats; they just reshape them because the real issue is the systems that allow such vulnerabilities to exist in the first place.
- Whitney Meldrum-Hanna
New think tank urges Albanese to stand up to Trump’s big tech buddies
The prime minister must go head-to-head with American social media giants over plans to regulate them more heavily, the Tech Policy Design Institute says.
- Tess Bennett
TikTok starts restoring service after Trump intervenes
The video app started restoring service in the US on Sunday, after Donald Trump announced he would give its owners another three months to find a buyer.
- Updated
- Alexandra S. Levine and Justin Sink
- Updated
- Trump's America
TikTok starts going dark across the US
Donald Trump had earlier said he would probably give the Chinese-owned social media app an extension from applying the ban upheld by the Supreme Court.
- Updated
- Virginia Van Natta
Can this $14b start-up rescue TikTok’s US operations?
Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine start-up, is proposing a merger with $80 billion behemoth TikTok to get around the US ban.
- Julia Love
- Opinion
- Opinion
TikTok ban attacks the folk economics young influencers bet on
When users complain about their app being banned, a lot of them are also decrying the circumstances that make online hustling their best shot at economic security.
- Tressie McMillan Cottom
- Analysis
- TikTok
It’s crunch time for TikTok, but there is a Trump card
A US ban is set to come into force on Sunday but Australian influencers, who rely on the platform and its American audience, are confident it will be short-lived.
- Updated
- Amelia McGuire
- Updated
- TikTok
US Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, leaving app’s fate to Trump
The justices ruled that the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress, did not violate free-speech protections in the US Constitution.
- Updated
- Andrew Chung and John Kruzel
Luke Sayers engages lawyer over lewd photo on X account
A spokesman for the Carlton Football Club president also said he was co-operating with an AFL integrity unit investigation.
- Updated
- Hannah Wootton
Why the age of the Kardashians may be over
They pretty much invented influencer culture but, like an overripe Stilton, this once-fragrant family is beginning to pong.
- Laura Craik
Trump mulls executive order to ‘save TikTok’ from ban or sale
The president-elect has shown interest in rescuing a platform on which he’s been widely admired, leading aides and business allies to scramble for options.
- Drew Harwell and Elizabeth Dwoskin
- Opinion
- Phones
Smartphones don’t suck. People do
These devices have come to operate a bit like dummies for adults: a temporary distraction from our hunger for connection, meaning and purpose.
- Sophie McBain
‘I’ve decided to move out low performers’: Meta cuts 5pc of staff
Affected workers in the US are expected to be notified on February 10, while those based in other countries will be informed at a later date.
- Riley Griffin
- Exclusive
Meta must keep meddling state actors off Facebook: Jones
The assistant treasurer has warned the social media company its embrace of unfettered free speech must not pave the way for state actors to interfere in elections.
- Ronald Mizen
China discusses selling TikTok to Elon Musk
Senior officials are mulling contingency plans for the social media platform’s US arm as part of discussions on how to work with the Trump administration.
- Bloomberg News
- Opinion
- Opinion
The cravenness of Mark Zuckerberg
It is clear in which direction the influence was being exerted when the Meta boss went to have dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He goes where the wind blows.
- Jemima Kelly