Study finds bypassing socials' age gates is child's play
Plus, Google's publisher ad revenues plummet, AI news apps for commuters are good business, TikTok fires safety teams, ChatGPT kills it, and more...
Four in five kids stroll past social media’s attempts to block underage users, rendering their efforts practically useless.
That’s the unsurprising discovery of eSafety commissioners aiming to bring in swingeing laws this year to fine socials which fail to close the loophole.
However, what’s more surprising to me is the decision to allow Google’s YouTube to sidestep the law, while its biggest competitors are caught in the dragnet.
Google will be delighted, and today I’ll share why.
Plus:
Google’s ad revenue to publishers fell 28 per cent last year.
New data puts the news industry in the driving seat for autonomous cars.
A flashback on Sheryl Sandberg as we countdown to the Meta antitrust trial, and
ChatGPT is accelerating and adding 1.67 million new active users daily.
But first, welcome to newsletter #274 and hola to new subs overnight from The Trade Desk, the International Center for Journalists in Washington DC, publisher ad platform Freestar in New York, digital ad agency Audience Group in Brisbane, the Bizkit Havas media agency in Stockholm, Hollywood AI innovators Wroom (very cool), Australia’s Southern Cross Austereo, growth consultancy ID Comms in New York, the Minister for Small Business in NSW, Australia, the Australian Radio Network, ad analytics Guideline AI in Chicago, total TV ad platform Adgile in London, and strategic comms agency DiGennaro in New York which represents Facebook (uh oh 👋), among others.
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And a heartfelt thank you to my sponsor this week, Avid Collective. I’ll be joining them on stage in Sydney next week. Give them a click to see what they do…
Right, today, a return to some daily headlines. I did these until a year ago, when the antitrust trials and major events led to some deeper reporting.
Many of you asked for me to start them again, so welcome back to Scotch and Watch; the articles I’ve been discussing with many of you over whisky in front of the TV.
Two items of housekeeping first:
If you want to drop me a line, chat about something in the newsletter, have a spicy titbit, tip-off, or just wanna say hi, I’d love to hear from you. I’m always on chat…
And later I’ll be joining ex-Bauer CEO
on Substack Live to dive into TikTok’s growth and to examine its potential for news organisations.Hope to see you there. Right, let’s go…
Four in five children aged eight to 12 are finding ways to get past social media platforms’ age rules.
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