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Yesterday

The murder of Victorian woman Samantha Fraser sparked a community project to provide personal distress alarms to woman at risk.

Why Australia’s domestic violence problem is complicated

The hope is that targeted action, and policies to boost women’s economic security more broadly, can continue to deliver results.

  • Tom McIlroy

This Month

Tracey Adamson with her sons Emmanuel, 7, and Sonny, 10.

Parents unite to end ‘daily battle with kids’ over phones, social media

Banning phones in schools is only part of the solution. What happens at home is even more important.

  • Julie Hare
Evidence now emerging suggests that smartphone use in children is linked with poor mental health outcomes.

Inside the fight for smartphone-free childhoods

A rising number of parents around the world, who have become addicted to handheld devices themselves, want to ban under-16s from having them.

  • Pippa Bailey
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke from Sydney after the meeting of the national cabinet.

Women to get $5000 in new emergency support payments

A snap meeting of national cabinet called after nearly 30 deaths of women at the hands of men this year – also agreed to trial new measures to extreme online misogyny.

  • Tom McIlroy

April

A newly trendy Mark Zuckerberg with Bill Gates and Paula Hurd at a high society wedding in India.

The Meta-morphosis of Mark Zuckerberg

The robotic nerd depicted in The Social Network has turned into the kinder, more accessible face of Silicon Valley. What’s going on?

  • Vanessa Friedman
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Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel’s app claims eight million users in Australia.

Snapchat going backwards in Australia

Elon Musk’s takeover crushed Twitter, but Snap is still a fraction of the size of the dominant Meta-Google online advertising machine.

  • Nick Bonyhady
AFR readers have urged Treasurer Jim Chalmers to avoid stoking inflation with a big-spending budget next month.

AFR readers call for government spending restraint to fight inflation

Two-thirds of The Australian Financial Review readers have urged Treasurer Jim Chalmers to resist the urge to deliver a big-spending pre-election budget.

  • Euan Black
The rioting in Wakeley was fed by distorted information on social media.

Surge of violence tests policy tolerance of social media

The Coalition in particular has to ask tricky questions of when enough is enough on social media platforms.

  • Laura Tingle
 X Corp owner Elon Musk.

The real reason Elon Musk is taking on Australia

Australia has become the latest battleground for the billionaire’s global war on internet censorship, Will he win?

  • Michael Pelly

What Forrest’s fight with Meta reveals about taking on big tech

After suffering a setback in Australian courts, the next bout of Andrew Forrest’s legal fight against Facebook owner Meta will take place in California next month.

  • Tess Bennett
“I always look at the bill,” says Ita Buttrose about reading Lunch with the AFR interviews.

Why Ita Buttrose used to spy on ABC hosts’ Twitter posts

The former ABC chairwoman has strong views on lots of topics, but social media use by journalists is a particular bugbear.

  • Sam Buckingham-Jones
Mark Zuckerberg freely admits that the next few years could be rocky for investors.

Mark Zuckerberg is stuck in AI purgatory, and that’s OK

Meta Platforms has a clear-eyed vision of how its artificial intelligence bets will pay off, but the returns on its growing investments remain some way off. Investors should expect to see more of this. 

  • James Thomson
Meta shares fall after earning result.

Meta’s plans to spend billions on AI unsettle investors

Shareholders are preparing to wipe around $US200 billion ($308 billion) of the social media giant’s value, despite better than expected earnings this year.

  • Updated
  • Joshua Peach
Billions of people are signed up for Facebook, but how many still need it?

Meta’s $554b rally to coincide with AI expectations

The Facebook parent has been the best-performer in the sector this year by far amid a surge in profitability. But there’s a catch.

  • Carmen Reinicke and Ryan Vlastelica
Bret Walker SC outside the NSW Court of Appeal during the Berejiklian appeal.

Musk courts top Sydney silk for eSafety fight

Elon Musk’s X is preparing for courtroom battle with the government over its take down order related to the Sydney church stabbing while NSW police make further arrests related to the attack.

  • Tess Bennett
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TikTok Australia general manger Brett Armstrong has rejected calls for the platform to be banned.

TikTok Australia makes its first stand after US ban laws pass

The US congress passed a bill on Wednesday requiring TikTok to be sold within a year or be banned in the country.

  • Nick Bonyhady
X owner Elon Musk has been in an escalating war of words with Australian politicians and regulators.

Corporate directors warned over Musk behaviour

AFP boss Reece Kershaw says better corporate standards are needed to enable co-operation between social media giants and law enforcement.

  • Tom McIlroy
Elon Musk has placated anxious Tesla shareholders, saying the EV car company’s unit sales will grow year over year in 2024.

Top silk approached to represent Musk in eSafety fight

Top Sydney silk Bret Walker SC will represent Elon Musk in his battle against Australia’s eSafety Commission; seven arrested in counter-terror raids after church attack. How the day unfolded.

  • Updated
  • Gus McCubbing
X owner Elon Musk said Senator Lambie was “the enemy of the people”.

‘Enemy of the people’: Musk lashes out at Lambie

X owner Elon Musk has continued his attacks on Australian politicians ahead of a Federal Court hearing on Wednesday about violent content on the platform.

  • Tom McIlroy
Donald Trump has acquired more shares in Truth Social.

Trump set for another $1.9b in shares he can’t sell

The former president set up social media platform Truth Social to share his views, but the company has attracted meme-stock traders and Wall Street professionals alike.

  • Bailey Lipschultz