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Today's Topics:
1. Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube,
(Stephen Loosley)
2. EPA plans to ignore science, stop regulating greenhouse gases
(Stephen Loosley)
3. Re: AI advances limited by electricity supply (Tom Worthington)
4. Re: AI advances limited by electricity supply (David)
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2025 21:58:41 +0930
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube,
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption
By Renju Jose and Byron Kaye
July 30, 20256:19 PM GMT+10Updated 3 hours ago
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/australia-widens-teen-social-media-ban-youtube-scraps-exemption-2025-07-29/
PM tells parents: 'We have your backs'
Ban set to take effect in December
Other sites objected to YouTube's exemption
SYDNEY, July 30 (Reuters) - Australia said on Wednesday it will add YouTube to
sites covered by its world-first ban on social media for teenagers, reversing
an earlier decision to exempt the Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O), opens new tab
video-sharing site and potentially setting up a legal challenge.
The decision came after the internet regulator urged the government last month
to overturn the YouTube carve-out, citing a survey that found 37% of minors
reported harmful content on the site, the worst showing for a social media
platform.
"I'm calling time on it," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement
highlighting that Australian children were being negatively affected by online
platforms, and reminding social media of their social responsibility.
"I want Australian parents to know that we have their backs."
The decision broadens the ban set to take effect in December. YouTube says it
is used by nearly three-quarters of Australians aged 13 to 15, and should not
be classified as social media because its main activity is hosting videos.
"Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library
of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens. It's not
social media," a YouTube spokesperson said by email.
Since the government said last year it would exempt YouTube due to its
popularity with teachers, platforms covered by the ban, such as Meta's
(META.O), opens new tab Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat (SNAP.N), opens new
tab and TikTok, have complained.
They say YouTube has key similarities to their products, including letting
users interact and recommending content through an algorithm based on activity.
The ban outlaws YouTube accounts for those younger than 16, allowing parents
and teachers to show videos on it to minors.
"Teachers are always curators of any resource for appropriateness (and) will be
judicious," said Angela Falkenberg, president of the Australian Primary
Principals Association, which supports the ban.
Artificial intelligence has supercharged the spread of misinformation on social
media platforms such as YouTube, said Adam Marre, chief information security
officer at cyber security firm Arctic Wolf.
"The Australian government's move to regulate YouTube is an important step in
pushing back against the unchecked power of big tech and protecting kids," he
added in an email.
The reversal sets up a fresh dispute with Alphabet, which threatened to
withdraw some Google services from Australia in 2021 to avoid a law forcing it
to pay news outlets for content appearing in searches.
Last week, YouTube told Reuters it had written to the government urging it "to
uphold the integrity of the legislative process". Australian media said YouTube
threatened a court challenge, but YouTube did not confirm that.
"I will not be intimidated by legal threats when this is a genuine fight for
the well-being of Australian kids," Communications Minister Anika Wells told
parliament on Wednesday.
The law passed in November only requires "reasonable steps" by social media
platforms to keep out Australians younger than 16, or face a fine of up to
A$49.5 million.
The government, which is due to receive a report this month on tests of
age-checking products, has said those results will influence enforcement of the
ban.
Reporting by Renju Jose and Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
and Clarence Fernandez
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
--
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2025 22:05:39 +0930
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] EPA plans to ignore science, stop regulating
greenhouse gases
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
EPA plans to ignore science, stop regulating greenhouse gases
"Largest deregulatory action" in the history of US would be one of the
unhealthiest.
By Martha Muir, Financial Times ? Jul 30, 2025 5:34 AM | 151
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/07/epa-plans-to-ignore-science-stop-regulating-greenhouse-gases/
The Trump administration has proposed curbing the government?s ability to
regulate greenhouse gases by unwinding rules that control emissions from fossil
fuel drilling, power plants, and cars.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on Tuesday announced
the proposed rollback of a 2009 declaration that determined carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases are a danger to public health and welfare.
?With this proposal, the Trump EPA is proposing to end 16 years of uncertainty
for automakers and American consumers,? said Zeldin.
Earlier in the day, Zeldin said on the conservative ?Ruthless? podcast that the
rescission would be the ?largest deregulatory action in the history of
America,? which will ?driv[e] a dagger into the heart of the climate change
religion.?
The move is the latest effort by the Trump administration to pare back
environmental standards, which it has framed as antithetical to economic growth
and consumer choice.
Since returning to office in January, President Donald Trump has withdrawn the
US from the Paris Agreement for the second time and ended all accompanying
financial commitments. He has also suspended methane leak detection and cut
electric vehicle incentives.
The so-called endangerment finding that the EPA proposed revoking on Tuesday
forms the legal basis for the government?s authority to impose limits on
certain emissions, which scientists say are responsible for climate change and
health issues such as breathing problems.
It derives from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that named greenhouse gases as ?air
pollutants,? giving the EPA the mandate to regulate them under the Clean Air
Act.
Critics of the rule say that the Clean Air Act was fashioned to manage
localized emissions, not those responsible for global climate change.
A rollback would automatically weaken the greenhouse gas emissions standards
for cars and heavy-duty vehicles.
Manufacturers such as Daimler and Volvo Cars have previously opposed the EPA?s
efforts to tighten emission standards, while organized labour groups such as
the American Trucking Association said they ?put the trucking industry on a
path to economic ruin.?
However, Katherine Garc?a, director of Sierra Club?s Clean Transportation for
All Campaign, said that the ruling would be ?disastrous for curbing toxic truck
pollution, especially in frontline communities disproportionately burdened by
diesel exhaust.?
Energy experts said the move could also stall progress on developing clean
energy sources such as nuclear power.
?Bipartisan support for nuclear largely rests on the fact that it doesn?t have
carbon emissions,? said Ken Irvin, a partner in Sidley Austin?s global energy
and infrastructure practice. ?If carbon stops being considered to endanger
human welfare, that might take away momentum from nuclear.?
The proposed rule from the EPA will go through a public comment period and
inter-agency review. It is likely to face legal challenges from environmental
activists.
--
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2025 09:03:14 +1000
From: Tom Worthington <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] AI advances limited by electricity supply
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
On 7/29/25 18:43, David wrote:
> ... There's only a limited supply of electric
> power and an even more limited supply of "green" power....
There isn't a limit on supply of power. If consumers are willing to pay,
suppliers will build more generating capacity. This is particularly the
case with solar power, which is much easier to deploy than a coal fired
or nuclear power.
> ... Do we want AI data centres pushing up prices for domestic and other
> established users ...
Who uses the power is determined by the market: if you pay for the power
you get it. I can't see there is any social benefit in an aluminum
smelter getting the power over a data center, for example.
> Yes, cold water in, hot water out. I suppose it's the equivalent of
> climate-change for whatever lives there.
I doubt the waste heat from generating plants is significant in terms of
climate change, compared to carbon dioxide emissions. Has anyone
done a study on this?
--
Tom Worthington, http://www.tomw.net.au
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2025 10:46:20 +1000
From: David <[email protected]>
To: [email protected], Tom Worthington <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [LINK] AI advances limited by electricity supply
Message-ID: <2754096.vuYhMxLoTh@ulysses>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
On Thursday, 31 July 2025 09:03:14 AEST Tom Worthington wrote:
> There isn't a limit on supply of power. If consumers are willing to pay,
> suppliers will build more generating capacity. This is particularly the case
> with solar power, which is much easier to deploy than a coal fired or nuclear
> power.
Then I wonder how Australia's electricity prices became such a hot political
issue?
_DavidL_
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