Plus: I can’t believe Microsoft didn’t do this to its AI chatbot ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

October 02, 2025 | Read online
# Wikipedia in teen social media ban? Meta AI ads and social media referee Plus: I can’t believe Microsoft didn’t do this to its AI chatbot
Edition 2431
"Macintosh computer now a relic on display in the museum" (Flickr: Karen and Luke)
# The News
### Wikipedia could come under the teen social media ban which seems not ideal
The Australian arm of the Wikipedia Foundation thinks that the online encyclopedia could be technically part of the teen social media ban, saying that it has been unable to get official confirmation from the government to the contrary (Crikey, $). While the government has focused on major social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook as the intended subjects of its ban, the legislation’s definition says that any platform with a sole or primary purpose of connecting users is supposed to comply. Wikimedia Australia, which represents and supports Australian Wikipedia users, says it believes that it’s possible that the Wiki platforms are “in scope” and, despite having spoken to various government bodies, has yet to receive anything official that would deem it to be free from the requirements to ban children under sixteen and to check the ages of its users — or face up to a $49.5 million fine.
The Sizzle: I’ll give the government the benefit of the doubt and say that it seems unlikely that the law was written to include Wikipedia, or that it will be interpreted that way. That’s easy for me to say — but for someone who runs something like Wikipedia, a footy forum, an online forum for an Australian tech newsletter? All things that might qualify but seem unlikely to be the target of enforcement? This law, intentionally written to be broad and give the government discretion over a fast-changing space, is a huge, if unlikely, risk for a lot of people who run online spaces that we cherish.
As I’ve been saying time and time again: even if you agree with the intentions or even the mechanism of the ban, you should still be concerned that it’s being done in such a haphazard way.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Meta does the inevitable to its AI chatbot
Meta will start using user conversations with its AI products to target them with advertisements (WSJ, gift link). Starting December 16, Meta will “personalise” its advertisements based on people’s chats with its AI services, excluding conversations on topics including religion, politics, sexual orientation, health and race. This won’t roll out in the UK, South Korea or EU — not clear about Australia.
The Sizzle: This is the least surprising thing ever, but I can’t say I’m not feeling a bit grim that this moment has come to fruition. We’re officially at a new frontier with AI: extracting everything from what feels like a private conversation with something meant to feel like a human companion. I’m on the record offering a defence of the ad-supported internet and content generally: it has supported the creation and distribution of a lot of great stuff. But the incentives of ad-supported AI chatbots are pretty scary. As in, it makes complete business sense to create a product that not only encourages you to spend lots of time on it, but also divulge your every thought and intention. That is a pathway to a scary, scary future.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Should Australia have an official ‘social media referee’?
Australia should have a “social media referee” to take on customer complaints with social media platforms — and the telco regulator is volunteering to set it up (SmartCompany). The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has joined others in calling for an independent social media platform ombudsperson to investigate user claims that they had been unfairly blocked or treated by these platforms. The TIO already gets heaps of complaints about these platforms, it says, and so would happily set up a “scalable, consumer-focused (external dispute resolution scheme) for digital platforms”.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Australia:
Australia fast-tracks access to US user data (Information Age) Melbourne International Games Week is so much more than cosplay and giveaways (Infinite Lives) Asahi Group production impacted by cyberattack (iTnews) VPNs, 'old man' masks, and AI: The holes in the social media ban and their fixes (ABC News) Google announces new 'Gemini-First' Home devices including Nest Cameras, Google Home speaker & improvements to Home app (EFTM)
Rest of the world:
UK makes new attempt to access Apple cloud data (Financial Times, $) oh shit here we go again X box Game Pass Hikes Price Ahead of Handhelds Release (The Hollywood Reporter,) Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Smart Glasses (Bloomberg, $) Spooked by AI, Bollywood stars drag Google into fight for 'personality rights' (Reuters) Elon Musk Plans to Take On Wikipedia With 'Grokipedia' (PCMag ) iFixit's AirPods Pro 3 Impossible to Repair, Earn Score of 0 in iFixit Teardown (MacRumors) GenAI Predictions (Ongoing) That time I had to SSH into a Roomba to fix a VPN issue (Reddit)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### I can’t believe Microsoft didn’t do this to its AI chatbot
Microsoft is rolling out “Portraits” — aka digital avatars — as the face of its AI chatbot product Copilot (The Verge). That’s fine, I guess, but my real issue with this whole announcement is:
very diverse thank you microsoft
Where’s Clippy?
I find the idea of AI avatars vaguely creepy. I don’t actually want to think of AI as a human, because it’s not and that’s psychotic. In fact, I think this is the company pulling at our emotions so it can juice revenue.
And yet, all of that would melt away if Microsoft just brought back Clippy as its Copilot avatar. I don’t want to give the bad guys a good idea… but, you gotta admit, Clippy AI assistant would go so hard. Turns out that other people are on the same wavelength. So, let me ask again.
Where’s Clippy?
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electrical & electronics
Jamo & Klipsch Speakers at Digital Cinema Jamo Bookshelf Speaker Pair S801 for $99 Klipsch Gig XL for $149 XXL Karaoke for $249 Reolink E1 Outdoor CX - $102 at Reolink (Down from $179.99) Ring Video Doorbell Elite - $129 at Amazon AU TP-Link Tapo Dl110 Smart Door Lock - $194 at Amazon US DJI Osmo Nano 128GB - $466 at Amazon JP
Computing
AMD Ryzen 5 7500F - $186 at PC DIY Monster AliExpress Logitech MX Master 4 Wireless Mouse (Graphite) - $197 at Officeworks Amazon Eero 7 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router at Amazon AU Single Router for $209 3-Pack for $454
Mobile
Lyca Mobile 360-Day 200GB Prepaid Mobile Plan- $110 at Lyca Mobile Oppo A5 at Mobileskin Oppo A5 4G 6GB/128GB for $209 Oppo A5 5G 4GB/128GB for $239 Samsung Galaxy A36 5G 6GB RAM/128GB Storage - $274 at amaysim (Down from $549) Google Pixel 7 Pro 128GB Obsidian - $459 at amaysim
# The End
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