As Australia introduces its ban on under-16s accessing social media — including YouTube — we examine the emergence of the age-restricted internet in countries around the world. They’re supposed to protect kids from online harms, but do the restrictions actually work? And what effects do age verification measures such as AI-powered facial scanning have on adults?

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Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades.

To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

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REFERENCES:

Australian regulators say the world will follow https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-says-world-will-follow-social-media-ban-meta-starts-blocking-teens-2025-12-04/

Teens can get around facial age estimation tools https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/04/social-media-ban-parents-help-teens/

Wikipedia loses its challenge against the UK’s Online Safety Act https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr11qqvvwlo

UK regulator suggests age-restricting VPNs https://www.theverge.com/tech/827435/uk-vpn-restrictions-ban-online-safety-act

KOSA remains controversial in the US https://www.theverge.com/policy/837123/house-energy-commerce-kids-online-safety-package-hearing

Adult websites need age verification across most of the US https://www.404media.co/missouri-age-verification-law-porn-id-check-vpns/

Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is out, with Google and Microsoft vet Amar Subramanya taking over many of his responsibilities. Here’s why Apple’s AI strategy should be all about thinking small, to play to the company’s privacy strengths.

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Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades.

To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites

REFERENCES:

Apple’s announcement about Giannandrea’s retirement https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/12/john-giannandrea-to-retire-from-apple/

Apple pulls Apple Intelligence news summaries https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/17/apple-suspends-ai-generated-news-alert-service-after-bbc-complaint

Apple delays big AI Siri update to 2026 https://www.pcmag.com/news/apple-explains-why-it-delayed-ai-siri-confirms-it-wont-arrive-until-2026

DeepSeek’s distillation breakthrough https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/21/deepseek-trained-ai-model-using-distillation-now-a-disruptive-force.html

The twisted nature of Elon Musk’s Grok AI shows how chatbots can be turned into tools of disinformation. But the tactics deployed by a Russian disinformation campaign called Pravda also point to a future where the “machine web” provides ways to push lies into AI models from beneath.

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Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades.

To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on:

Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.bsky.social

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites

REFERENCES:

Grok’s white genocide claims https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/14/elon-musk-grok-white-genocide

Grok’s antisemitism https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/09/grok-ai-praised-hitler-antisemitism-x-ntwnfb

Grok’s gross claims about Musk’s supremacy https://www.404media.co/elon-musk-could-drink-piss-better-than-any-human-in-history-grok-says/

French authorities investigating Grok over Holocaust denial https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2025/11/19/french-authorities-charges-x-over-holocaust-denial-comments-by-ai-chatbot-grok_6747630_13.html#

Pravda network feeding Wikipedia and AI models https://dfrlab.org/2025/03/12/pravda-network-wikipedia-llm-x/

Harvard researchers on Pravda https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/llms-grooming-or-data-voids-llm-powered-chatbot-references-to-kremlin-disinformation-reflect-information-gaps-not-manipulation/

Google’s “machine web” vision https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250611-ai-mode-is-google-about-to-change-the-internet-forever