Technologies

Australia Bans Social Media for Kids Under 16. Which Sites Are Blocked?

The new Australian law restricts some social media platforms, but other services and AI chatbots are exempt.

While governments around the world continue to tackle the thorny issue of age verification for certain websites and platforms, Australia is taking a blunter approach. Starting today, the entire country will ban social media sites for all children younger than 16 years old.

The age-restricted apps include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, Kick and Twitch. Younger teenagers will still have access to the popular gaming platform Discord, Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom and YouTube Kids. The ban also doesn’t include AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, OpenAI’s Sora or Google Gemini.

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Australia is the first country to launch this kind of age-restricted social media ban. Several other countries, including China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, Uganda, Saudi Arabia and India have full or partial social media bans, typically for political and security reasons.

Other countries, including Denmark, France, Norway and Malaysia, are considering similar bans to Australia’s and will be monitoring the effectiveness of the Australian ban over the coming months.

Although many studies have been conducted worldwide about the psycho-emotional effects of social media usage on children, the ban was inspired by The Anxious Generation, a book by US psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Annabel West, the wife of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, encouraged her husband to consider a ban after reading Haidt’s book in 2024.

Tech companies must enforce Australia’s ban, or face massive fines

Apps can use age-assurance technology, such as facial and voice analysis, to verify that a consumer is at least 16 years of age. Social media companies can also check how long an account has been active and assess age by language style and community memberships.

Kids being kids, they will find workarounds — such as one 13-year-old who held up a photo of her mother’s face to fool the age verification. The Australian government said it will prevent kids from using false identity documents, AI tools or VPNs to fake their age and location.

Tech companies will face a $33 million fine, as outlined in the legislation, if they fail to enforce the under-16 ban.

Two 15-year-old Australians, supported by the Digital Freedom Project, are challenging the social media ban, and the country’s High Court could hear their case as early as February. They argue, in part, that the ban «will have the effect of sacrificing a considerable sphere of freedom of expression and engagement for 13-to-15-year-olds in social media interactions (including communications on personal and governmental matters, and the benefits to those young people of such interactions).»

TikTok said it will comply with the new laws, although noting that the restrictions «may be upsetting» to customers. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has already begun removing accounts of users under 16. Snapchat is ready to boot nearly half a million Australian kids from their accounts. Not surprisingly, X boss Elon Musk has criticized the change, writing in 2024 that the law «seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians.»

Some experts are praising Australia’s ban

Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of Enough is Enough, a nonprofit with a mission to «make the Internet safer for children and families,» praised Australia for «taking a proactive stick approach to protect children from social media harms.»

Enough is Enough, which launched in 1992, has documented the myriad pitfalls of social media for children, including overuse, sexting, online exploitation, bullying, depression and more. The organization has published several internet safety guides and safety settings for social media apps.

«This ban should be an incentive for social media and other online platforms and services to be proactive in implementing safer-by-design technologies and default parental management tools before rushing to market with products that are potentially dangerous for children and teens,» Hughes told CNET.

Hughes added that Big Tech has only itself to blame for governmental intervention such as Australia’s.

«They’ve failed to do the right thing by our children from the start,» she said. «The carrot approach of voluntary industry efforts to prioritize child safety over profits hasn’t worked. A historic reality is that the first social media platforms to take off in the US and abroad, Facebook and Myspace, were developed for college-age students and older.»

The US does not have a sweeping age limit like Australia’s, but several states are developing new laws to regulate and restrict teens’ access to social media.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 5, #500

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 5, No. 500.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. As an old-school Minnesota Twins fan, I was excited to see the last name of our most legendary player on the grid. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: QB is another one.

Green group hint: Hit it out of the park.

Blue group hint: Great gridiron signal-callers.

Purple group hint: Half of a thousand.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Football positions, abbreviated.

Green group: Members of the 500-HR club.

Blue group: First names of QBs to throw 500 career TDs.

Purple group: ____500.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is football positions, abbreviated. The four answers are CB, OT, S and TE.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is members of the 500-HR club. The four answers are Banks, Bonds, Foxx and Killebrew.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is first names of QBs to throw 500 career TDs. The four answers are Aaron, Drew, Peyton and Tom.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____500. The four answers are ATP, Daytona, Indy and WTA.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, Feb. 5

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 5

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? The Across clues were kind of tricky today, but the Down clues helped me fill in the grid. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Battery warning from a smoke detector
Answer: CHIRP

6A clue: Word that can precede «book» or «tour»
Answer: AUDIO

7A clue: Extreme edge
Answer: BRINK

8A clue: Like a wobbly screw
Answer: LOOSE

9A clue: Type in
Answer: ENTER

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Alternative to streaming
Answer: CABLE

2D clue: One of the Great Lakes
Answer: HURON

3D clue: Dummy
Answer: IDIOT

4D clue: Wash under a tap
Answer: RINSE

5D clue: Game in which Paul Newman successfully cons a crime boss in «The Sting»
Answer: POKER

Technologies

Fitbit Launches Luffu, AI-Powered Health Tracking for the Whole Family

Soon, you may be able to access every family member’s health data in one place.

If you’ve ever wanted a way to keep all of your family’s health records in place, Fitbit may have come up with a solution. Fitbit, well-known for its fitness wearables, announced the launch of its own health care system on Wednesday.

Luffu, which translates to the Old English word for «love,» uses AI to create what it calls an «intelligent family care system.» The platform allows family members to share all their health information through an app.

It’s unclear when Luffu will be officially available, but you can sign up for the waitlist to get access to the limited public beta. Pricing or other details have not been announced.

Luffu will allow families to keep track of everyone’s doctor’s appointments, test results, vaccine records, medications, symptoms, diet and more. The platform uses AI to learn your family’s health history and patterns, and to alert you to any changes that should be addressed, such as missed medications or abnormal vitals. The AI function organizes the data submitted into the system. The app will also connect to third-party apps and wearables, such as the Fitbit.

Luffu is meant to lighten the mental load of family care by organizing all this health data in one place, its co-founder said.

«I was caring for my parents from across the country, trying to piece together my mom’s health care across various portals and providers, with a language barrier that made it hard to get a complete, timely context from her about doctor visits,» said Luffu co-founder James Park.

Luffu will include alerts and a space to log health and medication information via voice, text, photos, and other health portals and devices. The key medical information can be shared across the platform with spouses, caregivers and parents.

A representative for Fitbit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.