News Articles

Artificial intelligence platforms are reshaping how Australians encounter news, amplifying global media giants as local journalists, outlets and communities are pushed to the margins, new University of Sydney research has found.  

As more countries look to follow Australia’s lead and introduce social media bans for children, we ask whether Australia’s legislation is working.

Artificial intelligence is leaving Australian news sources “increasingly invisible” as algorithms favour international media giants over local journalism, a new study has found.

As Artificial Intelligence platforms continue to reshape how Australians discover news, a new warning bell’s been sounded. As we know, AI is already seeping into radio news bulletins, via cloned voices and automated scriptwriting and story selection. Now, it’s also amplifying global media giants as local journalists.

Australia’s news diet is being quietly Americanised: a study finds AI news summaries amplify US voices, sideline local journalism and risk hollowing out the country’s media, and with it democracy, according to the author of a Sydney University study.

Australian journalism is largely “invisible” in AI-generated news summaries from Microsoft Copilot, which overwhelmingly favour US or European media, research by the University of Sydney has found.

Australia has become the first country to ban children under sixteen from social media, forcing platforms to block millions of young users overnight. Supporters say the move draws a long-overdue line around online harm while critics feel that it could push teens into riskier digital spaces with less oversight. As legal challenges mount and other countries watch closely, we cover what drove the country to implement this hardline policy on social media.

The Federal government says 4.7 million social media accounts have been deactivated in the first month of its ban on teenagers. It’s the first ban of its kind in the world, and other countries are watching closely.

The government has hailed data showing over 4.7 million under-16 accounts had been deactivated, removed or restricted within days of social media restrictions coming into effect, with one minister calling it a “huge achievement”.

Now that we’ve reached the one-month mark since Australia implemented its closely scrutinised social media age restrictions policy on 10 December 2025, what may be most remarkable is what hasn’t happened. There has been no spiralling backlash, no rapid escalation of unintended harms and no policy meltdown. For a reform as contested as this one was, that absence is significant.