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Australias majority party has introduced a bill in Parliament that would ban children under 16 from social media. The legislation, which would put the onus on social platforms rather than children or parents, could fine infringing companies up to AUD$49.5 million ($32.2 million). The Labor Partys bill would apply to (among others) Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and X. It would require platforms to cordon off and destroy any underage user data collected. However, the legislation would include exceptions for health and education services, like Headspace, Google Classroom and YouTube. For too many young Australians, social media can be harmful. Almost two-thirds of 14- to 17-year-old Australians have viewed extremely harmful content online, including drug abuse, suicide or self-harm, as well as violent material, Australia Communications Minister Michelle Rowland told Parliament on Thursday. A quarter have been exposed to content promoting unsafe eating habits. Reuters notes that the law would be one of the most aggressive globally in tackling the problems related to childrens social media use. It wouldnt include exemptions for parental consent or pre-existing accounts. Essentially, social platforms would have to police their platforms to ensure no child under 16 can use their services. The bill is supported by the majority (center-left) Labor Party and opposition (right) Liberal Party. This is a landmark reform, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. We know some kids will find workarounds, but were sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act. The (left) Australian Greens have criticized the legislation, saying it ignores expert evidence in ramming the law through Parliament without proper scrutiny. The recent Parliamentary Inquiry into Social Media heard time and time again that an age-ban will not make social media safer for anyone, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in a statement. [The bill] is complicated to implement and will have unintended consequences for young people. Last year, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm about the risks of underage social media use. Children and adolescents who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety, the 2023 advisory from the Surgeon Generals office read. The US requires tech companies to seek parental consent to access the data of children under 13, but it doesnt have any age restrictions. Reuters notes that France enacted a social media ban for children under 15 last year, but it allows children to still access the services with parental consent.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/australia-introduces-a-bill-that-would-ban-children-under-16-from-social-media-174547712.html?src=rss
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The Spotify audiobook experience has been lacking when compared to rivals like Audible, but it looks like thats beginning to change. The streaming platform just announced a bevy of updates for audiobook listeners and some are downright useful. Perhaps the biggest one for me is the addition of a sleep timer. Audiobooks are great for lulling people to sleep, but it sucks when you sleep through a hundred pages and cant remember where you left off. The built-in sleep timer lets users set how long the content will play. This sleep timer already exists for podcasts and music. Spotify users can also now make audiobook-specific playlists, helping people keep track of what they want to read or, uh, listen to. The platform says this tool will help you keep your library organized and that playlists will be a place for you to aggregate the audiobooks on your reading list. In addition to traditional playlists, the streamer will publish curated playlists from the audiobook editorial team. There are new Countdown Pages, which are splash pages for forthcoming audiobooks. These let people save a book prior to the release date, making it easy to find once it actually comes out. Spotify says this feature can be used by authors, publishers, and narrators to help promote their upcoming titles ahead of launch. Spotify Speaking of promotions, Spotifys new Author Pages display biographical information on specific writers and will allow perusal of their entire catalogs. This is in a pilot program for now, with only a select number of authors having access to the tool. Theres also a new video player specifically for audiobooks, that lets "select authors and publishers submit a short video about a specific title. The platform likens this to a books jacket, offering a taste of an audiobook before pressing play. Finally, some audiobooks are getting a follow-along feature. This is described as an immersive visual experience akin to a music video that displays illustrations, photos and graphics as the audiobook is being read. Look for this in the extras section of eligible audiobooks. Last year, Spotify began offering 15 hours of audiobook listening to Premium subscribers. Theres also a subscription specifically for audiobooks that costs $10 per month that provides 15 hours of listening. The Premium subscription, however, costs $12 per month and adds ad-free music to the mix. Its good to know that humanitys collective musical output is worth $2 per month.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotify-drops-a-bunch-of-new-tools-for-audiobooks-including-a-sleep-timer-173327861.html?src=rss
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WhatsApp added voice message transcripts on Thursday. Handy for when youre in a loud environment (or if you prefer reading over listening), theyll be rendered on-device, so theyll remain encrypted and private. To set them up, head to Settings > Chats > Voice message transcripts and toggle the feature on. There, you can also pick your preferred language. Once set up, you can transcribe a message by long-pressing on it and tapping transcribe. The feature will roll out globally over the coming weeks, so you may not see it right away. WhatsApp says message transcripts are launching in only a few select languages, but the company plans to add more in the coming months. Meta, WhatsApps parent company, has apparently earmarked this week for new messaging features. On Wednesday, Messenger added the ability to leave audio or video messages if a call goes unanswered. Also new in Messenger are AI video call backgrounds, HD video calling, background noise suppression and voice isolation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/whatsapp-adds-voice-message-transcripts-170148660.html?src=rss
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