A high school student says it is impossible to avoid toxic content online — and there's little transparency from social media platforms.
Instagram still allowing parents to sell exclusive content of their kids
The parent company of Instagram, Meta, says it no longer allows fans to subscribe to child Instagram accounts, but the ABC has found that's not the case.
Photo shows Instagram Kids Content, ABC Investigation: A pixelated image of a child dancing.Has Video Duration: 1 minute 44 seconds.On Instagram, parents are selling 'exclusive' photos of their children and Meta is struggling to clamp down
Instagram is still allowing parents to sell content of their children, including bikini photos and videos, despite claiming it stopped the practice three months ago.
Photo shows A pixelated image of a child. The image is of a stock modelPorn is a $97b industry, and it's making its way to kids when they least expect it
Kids with a social media accounts, and even the open internet, are receiving uninvited pornographic pop-ups when they least expect it, and sex and relationship educators are counting the cost of its harm on young people.
Photo shows A graphic showing three young people in front of screen with three exes on it.Study of online hate finds Islamophobic and anti-Semitic comments are growing. Researchers say this has to change
The study's authors say more could be done by the federal government-funded eSafety Commissioner to make the internet a safer space.
Photo shows A woman in Muslim headdress sitting opposite a man. Both are at a desk using laptops.Jaded by dating apps? These people have found an alternative they say is more fun
Dating app users can feel played by the algorithm, dissatisfied with matches and sick of fruitless scrolling. Increasingly, they're discovering that there are other, in-person ways to meet new people instead.
Photo shows Young woman smiling with closed mouth, with dark orange shoulder-length hair and black jumper, with blurred grass behind her.When this teen's parents denied her a smartphone she was initially distraught. Now she says it was the best decision
With some parents struggling to manage their young people's use of smartphones and social media, others are taking a firm position against "addictive" technology to protect teenagers' mental health.
Virtual idol Hatsune Miku has announced her first Aussie tour and she's not the only digital kid on the block
While doomsayers may see virtual performers like Hatsune Miku and Plave as a threat to the creative industries, some artists are using the technology to their advantage.
Photo shows Hatsune Miku is singing into a microphone and holding a guitar.'Not necessarily human trafficking': Online market claims electrified GPS shackles have legitimate uses
A huge online marketplace linked to Cambodia's ruling family is allegedly being used to sell equipment to and launder money for the online scam industry — with Australians among those in the crosshairs.
Photo shows An aerial shot of Huione Pay's headquarters in Phnom Penh.Students' misogyny makes Hannah feel the authority she holds as a teacher is revoked
Substitute teacher Hannah Duffus says students projected porn on the whiteboard while she took roll call and she was asked if she was the "proper teacher".
Photo shows Hannah smiling while hiking in the sunRohan took his own life within an hour of falling victim to a sextortion scam
Rohan Cosgriff didn't tell anyone about a sextortion scam he had fallen victim to before taking his own life. A Victorian coroner says education needs to focus on breaking down the shame and guilt that prevents help-seeking.
Photo shows A teenager looks down at a smartphone screen displaying the Snapchat logo, a yellow screen with a white ghost cartoonIs Australia snoozing through the 'largest gold rush in the history of capitalism'?
Experts say AI is the "largest gold rush in the history of capitalism", and that Australia is falling behind. But there's something else we're also trailing the pack on: the time it takes to manage privacy settings on websites.
Photo shows A colourful illustrations shows the neon paths of computer circuits arranged to resemble an illuminated human brain.IT worker who led 'double life' posing as teenage girls online jailed for soliciting child porn
Abhijeet Kulkarni will spend up to eight years behind bars after posing as young girls to solicit child pornography from several teenage victims across Australia.
These conspiracy believers thought vaccines were used to control us before something changed their minds
Four former conspiracy theorists held beliefs that governed almost every aspect of their lives. Then, for each of them, a powerful trigger made them change their minds. Their stories offer insight into life inside the rabbit hole — and hope for escaping it.
Photo shows Joel Hill, with bald head and black t-shirt, smiles sitting at wooden table with grass and green bushes behind him.Behind the screens: Japanese anime creators reveal a billion-dollar industry in crisis
Here's what artists and producers involved in the creation of Japan's billion-dollar anime industry say about the reality of living and working behind the scenes.
Photo shows A photo of a manga artists' room.Parents urged to ditch 'digital cocaine' devices as aggressive children taken to hospital
Distraught children are being treated at emergency departments after their parents have pulled the plug on their devices, according to health and education authorities promoting the benefits of a digital detox.
Photo shows Two small children are sitting on a couch in colourful pajamas, watching cartoons on their tablets.Should you post photos of your child on social media? Two parents explain their decision
The discovery of photos of Australian children in a gargantuan dataset being used to train leading AI models has given rise to a blame game and some divisive questions.
Photo shows A young girl sits on a man's shoulders as he takes a selfie.What is raw dogging a flight and why is it taking off?
Young men are bragging about flying without entertainment in an online display of toughness in the digital age.
The 'stick lady', a frustrated cyclist and a court case that helped spark major change to defamation laws
During the COVID lockdowns, an online vigilantism soon became a defamation case in the NSW District Court. New legislation is aiming to avoid cases like this from happening again.
Photo shows Facebook defamationThe voices of Judy Garland and James Dean are being used in a new AI app. The move could end up hurting other actors
The voices of the dead Hollywood stars are being unveiled in a new AI app to be used as text readers. Here's what we know.
Topic:Explainer
Photo shows A collage of Judy Garland in Wizard of Oz and James Dean in Rebel with a CauseThe world's biggest AI models were trained using images of Australian kids, and their families had no idea
The privacy of Australian children is being violated on a large scale, with their personal images — and sometimes their names and locations — being used to train the AI powering most of the world's image-generators.