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Summer Reflections on Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age Laws

It is unusual to find yourself as a digital media researcher in Australia being at the forefront of global policy debates. Given the talk about the three great Digital Empires – the US, EU and China – who set the global agenda, the place for middle-sized powers to be taking a policy lead around digital tech would seem to be limited.

How do Platforms Matter?

The paper ‘How do platforms matter? Media power, platform power and the digital domination of Australian media’, co-authored by Terry Flew (University of Sydney) and Cameron McTernan (Adelaide University) has now been published by International Communications Gazette. The paper is part of a special issue ‘Networks of Power: Media and Internet Concentration, Platform Capitalism, and the Future of Democracy’, edited by Dwayne Winseck (Carleton University). The special issue is part of the Global Media and Internet Concentration Project (GMICP), funded through the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Digital policy as problem space: Australia’s social media age restrictions for under-16s

On December 10, 2025, the Online Safety Act (Social Media Minimum Age) Amendment, which was passed by both Australian Federal Houses of Parliament 12 months earlier, was implemented. This marked the onset of what is known globally as Australia’s social media ban for under-16s. In practice it involves those under 16 being restricted from holding accounts on ten platforms designated by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Reddit and Snapchat.

Believing What You See: Trust and Vision from the French Revolution to Generative AI

The seminar brought together a cross disciplinary cohort of scholars to present papers on the veracity of the image and information in public life, and the relationship between visual understanding and societal trust.

Vertical Short Drama: The next screen addiction? Insights from Dr Wenjia Tang

Dr Wenjia Tang, post-doctoral researcher with the Mediated Trust ARC Laureate team, explores the rise of vertical short drama — a fast-growing format reshaping screen culture. In this talk, Dr Tang examines how mobile-first storytelling platforms are transforming audience habits, merging social media aesthetics with narrative content, and raising new questions about attention, monetisation, and media addiction in the digital age.

Building Trust in Data Science: Interdisciplinary Insights from Rohan Alexander

In this engaging talk, Rohan shares his interdisciplinary journey, collaborative research efforts, and the challenges of building trustworthy, reproducible workflows. From sparse matrices to the evolving role of large language models, he reflects on how AI is reshaping coding practices and the broader implications for society.

AI and Communication: Trust, Ethics, Justice and Policy

Professor Terry Flew was honoured to be an invited keynote speaker for Charles Sturt University’s 50 Years and Beyond: School of Information and Communication Studies “Thoughts on the Beyond” Public Lecture Series. In his address, Professor Flew explored the evolving frontiers of media, communication, and digital society, reflecting on how the past five decades of scholarship can inform the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Dr Agata Stepnik discusses digital ethnography

In this video interview, Post-doctoral research fellow Dr. Agata Stepnik talks about the importance of digital ethnography as a research method and the need for situated and observational methods in understanding digital cultures.

Trust, Institutions and Governance

These are a series of seminars for post-doctoral fellows, PhD students and the Mediated Trust research team on the theme of “Trust, Institutions and Governance”. The aims of the seminars are: To ground the concept of trust in institutions and organisations, as an intermediate (meso) point between interpersonal and societal trust. To consider leading theories of trust, truth and communication, and consensus, critical and conflict models of social order, and how they shape understandings of trust.  To discuss institutionalism as a set of theories and methods that can inform the study of trust by grounding it in the historical development of social institutions.  To consider the concept of governance as a way of understanding contemporary forms of politics, power and regulation.

Exploring new perspectives through sabbatical

We were delighted to host Professor Jörg Matthes from the University of Vienna during his recent sabbatical with the Mediated Trust team in Sydney.

What does trust mean in the age of AI?

Professor Terry Flew explores the evolving concept of trust in the context of media, technology, and artificial intelligence. He highlights how AI challenges traditional notions of human-machine interaction, raising concerns about authenticity and reliability.

New opportunities – Mediated Trust PhD scholarships

Are you passionate about understanding the intersection of trust, news media, digital platforms, public institutions, and AI, and contributing to current debates on these issues? The University of Sydney is offering Mediated Trust ARC Laureate PhD Scholarships.