The News

Social media companies face court for youth mental health claims

Social media companies are being put on trial over claims their software design choices have allegedly hurt children's mental health (Guardian). In a set of "bellwether" cases — i.e. cases that are testing claims that would apply to hundreds of other pending cases — companies like Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are being accused of designing their platforms in ways that make users addicted, and lead to depression, eating disorders, even suicide. With one case set to go ahead this week, it is the first time these claims will face a jury trial in the US. 

The Sizzle: One of the reasons that this has taken so long to end up in court is because social media companies have argued that the ill-effects suffered by social media users is caused by the content uploaded by other users. Tech platforms are typically not held legally responsible for user content under US or Australian law. But these new cases are arguing that harm is being caused by the design of the apps, i.e. features including likes counters, algorithmic amplification of extreme content, endless scroll, gamification features. 

I think looking at the design of social media companies is an important distinction. I don't think connecting people to each other online — AKA social media — is inherently harmful. But some of the pokies-like features that keep users hooked? That's the stuff that we should be looking at closely (and regulating).

Related reading: European Union says video app TikTok must change ‘addictive’ design (Al Jazeera) and Attention Media ≠ Social Networks (Susam)

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AI and gambling companies dominate Super Bowl ads (which might mean we're at the top)

It's the Super Bowl today — right now — and the tech angle is that this year's highly sought-after $10m for 30 seconds halftime ads are dominated by AI (Hollywood Reporter) and prediction market cough gambling cough companies (Business Insider). Super Bowl advertisements are a funny thing because they're a sign of prestige — "look how much money we have" — but also, in the case of the dot com boom and crypto, they can be the sign of being at the peak of the bubble (Futurism) 

Related reading: Washington Post had marketers review all the AI ads. Some were bad

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How goannas are a problem for Australia's nuclear testing detector

Near Tennant Creek, smack bang in the middle-of-nowhere, Northern Territory, there's a 60-year-old ANU-managed "seismic and infrasound research station" that can detect nuclear tests happening anywhere in the world. Its director Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić just wrote a really nice article about the centre, what it does and how its existence deters nuclear weapons by making sure that no one can get away with testing it unnoticed. It's pretty neat that tech plays a role in peace. Also, this bit made me laugh:

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Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

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Oh, Also

A cool tool to automate smart home automations

Have you gotten everything working in Home Assistant but can't be bothered setting up automations? Someone has built a little widget called Tara Assistant that watches how you use your smart home, drafts automations and recommends them — all done locally. It can also build automations based on your natural voice commands if you loop in a LLM.

I'm going to give it a go and tell you how it pans out! 

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Bargains

Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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