Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024

The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 is an Australian act of parliament that prohibits minors under the age of 16 from holding an account on certain social media platforms. It is an amendment to the Online Safety Act 2021 and was passed by the Parliament of Australia on 29 November 2024. It imposes monetary penalties on social media companies that fail to take reasonable steps to prevent minors under 16 that are located in Australia from having accounts on their services. The legislation allows the government to determine which social media platforms must ban age‑restricted users and proclaim a date for the commencement of the ban, with those provisions taking effect on 10 December 2025. Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Threads, Twitch, Kick, and YouTube were age‑restricted on 10 December 2025, with the possibility that more platforms may be added. The act is being challenged in the High Court by the Digital Freedom Project. == Background == The ban on access to social media by young people by the federal government originated in November 2023, when shadow communications minister David Coleman introduced a private member's bill requiring the government to conduct a trial for age-verification technology on pornography and social media platforms. While the bill did not succeed, the Albanese government funded the trial in the 2024 Australian federal budget. In June 2024, opposition leader Peter Dutton pledged that a Coalition government would implement a ban on social media for under-16s within 100 days of taking office. The following month, prime minister Anthony Albanese announced the government would introduce legislation banning under-16s from social media. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 was introduced into parliament by minister for communications Michelle Rowland on 21 November 2024, passing both houses on 28 November 2024. The ban on access to social media by young people by the federal government also gained momentum following an entreaty by the wife of the premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, to her husband. She requested that he read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and take action to address the impact of social media on the mental health of children. The couple have four young children, and, thinking of them, the premier thought that government should play a part in helping parents to regulate use of social media by their children at home. Malinauskas contacted former High Court chief justice Robert French, who agreed to look at the issue, and in September 2024 handed the premier a 267 page proposal, which he dubbed a "Swiss Army knife" rather than a machete, to adjust to social media's "changing landscape and its complexity". The leaders of other states and territories gave their support to Malinauskas's idea, and he took the French report to National Cabinet to collaborate with chief ministers, premiers, and the prime minister. Community support swelled after stories of parents who had lost their children to suicide after being bullied on social media were published. Albanese himself was moved by a personal letter received from Kelly O'Brien, whose 12-year-old daughter Charlotte had taken her own life due to bullying at school. An event took place at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in September 2025 at which a mother spoke of her daughter's suicide as "death by bullying ... enabled by social media". The speech won support from world leaders in Greece, Fiji, Tonga and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. In early September 2024, South Australia proposed legislation similar to the federal law now in place. The state-based version was intended to ban users under the age of 14, unlike the federal law, which bans those under 16. The state-based law also proposed to require parental consent for 14 and 15‑year‑olds. Later in September, prime minister Anthony Albanese announced that his government intended to introduce legislation to set a minimum age requirement for social media. In November 2024, the federal government indicated their intention to engage the Age Check Certification Scheme following a tender process for an age assurance technology trial. The Albanese government's proposed ban was supported by the governments of every state and territory. Albanese described social media as a "scourge", and said "I want people to spend more time on the footy field or the netball court than they're spending on their phones", that family members are "worried sick about the safety of our kids online", and that social media "is having a negative impact on young people's mental health and on anxiety". Albanese's statements followed an earlier pledge by Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton who was pushed by the early advocacy of shadow communications minister David Coleman to implement a ban on social media for under 16s within 100 days of being elected. The opposition organised an open letter signed by 140 experts who specialise in child welfare and technology. The opposition was concerned about the invasion of privacy that will occur with the introduction of identification-based age checks. An advocacy group for digital companies in Australia called the plans a "20th Century response to 21st Century challenges". A director of a mental health service voiced concerns, stating that "73% of young people across Australia who accessed mental health support did so through social media". == Implementation == Social media companies will receive a transition period of one year after the legislation is enacted to introduce reasonable controls preventing minors under the age of 16 from holding accounts on their services while physically located in Australia. Enforcement will involve fines of up to A$49.5 million for companies failing to take such steps, with no consequences for parents and children who violate the restrictions. There are no parental consent exceptions to the ban, and while the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to access these services remains legal in Australia, the services are expected to try to stop under 16s from using VPNs to pretend to be outside Australia. The expectation is to make best-efforts to implement the ban on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Threads, Twitch, Kick and YouTube. Some social media companies are now obligated to become good enough at profiling Australian children under 16 to satisfy the Australian government they tried to implement the ban to avoid being fined. Consequently, social media companies said they will try to identify restricted users using various methods including behavioural inferencing. On 5 November 2025, it was announced that online gaming platform Roblox will not be banned, but Reddit and live-streaming platform Kick will be added to the list of platforms to be banned. A report by Age Check Certification Scheme, a UK company recruited by the government to consult on the technology used to implement the restrictions, was issued in June 2025, ahead of the December deadline to implement the ban. In June 2025, the preliminary report was released, which stated that "there are no significant technological barriers" to implementing the ban. In late July 2025, Google warned that it would sue the Australian government if YouTube was included in the ban. On 30 July, the government announced that it would extend its social media age limit to include YouTube, following advice from Grant. On 30 July 2025, the minister for communications, Anika Wells, published the Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Rules 2025, which specify exactly which types of social media platforms will be banned for certain users. On 31 August 2025, the full report was released, which stated that it would technically be possible to implement the ban; however, coordination among different services is required to successfully implement it. It also highlighted the benefits and flaws of different methods of age verification. On 16 September 2025, it was announced that the eSafety Commissioner will be able to take legal action against social media companies that have not pursued reasonable steps to bar users under the age of 16, and that fines can range up to A$49.5 million against these companies in court. On 19 November 2025, Meta announced that from 4 December their platforms (Instagram, Facebook, and Threads) would be removing users under the age of 16 ahead of the 10 December deadline. Users will be able to scan a face or provide an identity document to prove their age. On 21 November 2025, the eSafety Commissioner announced that the live-streaming platform Twitch will be included in the ban, but that Pinterest would not be. In December 2025, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant suggested efforts to block users include use by social media companies of various "signals" to identify children that are

Likewise, Inc.

Likewise, Inc., is an American technology startup company which provides a social networking service for finding and saving content recommendations for movies, TV shows, books, and podcasts. A team of ex-Microsoft employees founded Likewise in October 2017 with financial investment from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. The company is led by CEO Ian Morris and as of 2020 had a team of about 35 employees. Its headquarters operates in Bellevue, Washington. As of July 2020, 1 million users had joined the platform. == History == === Ideation (October 2017) === In 2017, former Microsoft Communications Chief Larry Cohen came up with the idea for Likewise in Bill Gates’ private office, Gates Ventures. Cohen currently serves as Gates Ventures’ CEO and managing partner. Cohen collaborated with colleagues Michael Dix and Ian Morris to co-found what would become Likewise, with Morris as its CEO. Gates funded the company's early development. The company developed its platform in stealth mode before launching publicly in October 2018. === Release (October 2018) === Likewise officially released its platform in the US and Canada on October 3, 2018. === Growth (2020 COVID-19 pandemic) === Likewise experienced accelerated growth alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 2020 to July 2020, the platform's monthly active users tripled in numbers. The company reached one million users in July 2020. == Applications == === Mobile === Likewise is available as a mobile app for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. Users receive recommendations from the Likewise algorithm, people they follow, and the Likewise editorial team. === Likewise TV === In October 2019, the company launched its Apple TV app called Likewise TV. The television app organizes shows across streaming services under one watchlist. On July 20, 2020, Likewise TV expanded to Android TV and Amazon Fire TV users.

Mark Keane (cognitive scientist)

Mark Thomas Gerard Keane (Irish: Marcus Ó Cathain, born 3 July 1961, Dublin, Ireland) is a cognitive scientist and author of several books on human cognition and artificial intelligence, including Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook (8 editions, with Michael Eysenck), Advances in the Psychology of Thinking (1992, with Ken Gilhooly), Novice Programming Environments (1992/2018, with Marc Eisenstadt and Tim Rajan), Advances in Case-Based Reasoning (1995, with J-P Haton and Michel Manago)., Case-Based Reasoning: Research & Development (2022, with N Wiratunga). == Education == Keane received a B.A. in Psychology from University College Dublin in 1982. He then received a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin in 1987. He then moved to postdoctoral positions in Queen Mary University of London and the Open University. == Academic career == He was a Lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff University. He became a lecturer in Computer Science at Trinity College Dublin in 1990, and became a fellow in 1994. Keane moved to become Chair of Computer Science at University College Dublin in 1998. In 2006, he was seconded to Science Foundation Ireland as Director of ICT, overseeing on a $700m research investment. He advised the Irish Government on its 3.7B euro Strategy for Science, Technology & Innovation (SSTI). From 2006 to 2007, he was Director General of Science Foundation Ireland before returning to University College Dublin where he was appointed VP of Innovation & Partnerships (2007-2009). Keane's research has been split between cognitive science and computer science. His cognitive science research has been in analogy, metaphor, conceptual combination and similarity. His computer science research has been in natural language processing, machine learning, case-based reasoning, text analytics and explainable artificial intelligence. He has been a PI in the Science Foundation Ireland funded Insight Centre for Data Analytics working on digital journalism and digital humanities. More recently, he was deputy director of the VistaMilk SFI Research Centre that is exploring precision agriculture in the dairy sector.

Cobham's theorem

Cobham's theorem is a theorem in combinatorics on words that has important connections with number theory, notably transcendental numbers, and automata theory. Informally, the theorem gives the condition for the members of a set S of natural numbers written in bases b1 and base b2 to be recognised by finite automata. Specifically, consider bases b1 and b2 such that they are not powers of the same integer. Cobham's theorem states that S written in bases b1 and b2 is recognised by finite automata if and only if S differs by a finite set from a finite union of arithmetic progressions. The theorem was proved by Alan Cobham in 1969 and has since given rise to many extensions and generalisations. == Definitions == Let n > 0 {\displaystyle n>0} be an integer. The representation of a natural number n {\textstyle n} in base b {\textstyle b} is the sequence of digits n 0 n 1 ⋯ n h {\displaystyle n_{0}n_{1}\cdots n_{h}} such that n = n 0 + n 1 b + ⋯ + n h b h {\displaystyle n=n_{0}+n_{1}b+\cdots +n_{h}b^{h}} where 0 ≤ n 0 , n 1 , … , n h < b {\displaystyle 0\leq n_{0},n_{1},\ldots ,n_{h} 0 {\displaystyle n_{h}>0} . The word n 0 n 1 ⋯ n h {\displaystyle n_{0}n_{1}\cdots n_{h}} is often denoted ⟨ n ⟩ b {\displaystyle \langle n\rangle _{b}} , or more simply, n b {\displaystyle n_{b}} . A set of natural numbers S is recognisable in base b {\textstyle b} or more simply b {\textstyle b} -recognisable or b {\textstyle b} -automatic if the set { n b ∣ n ∈ S } {\displaystyle \{n_{b}\mid n\in S\}} of the representations of its elements in base b {\displaystyle b} is a language recognisable by a finite automaton on the alphabet { 0 , 1 , … , b − 1 } {\displaystyle \{0,1,\ldots ,b-1\}} . Two positive integers k {\displaystyle k} and ℓ {\displaystyle \ell } are multiplicatively independent if there are no non-negative integers p {\displaystyle p} and q {\displaystyle q} such that k p = ℓ q {\displaystyle k^{p}=\ell ^{q}} . For example, 2 and 3 are multiplicatively independent, but 8 and 16 are not since 8 4 = 16 3 {\displaystyle 8^{4}=16^{3}} . Two integers are multiplicatively dependent if and only if they are powers of a same third integer. == Problem statements == === Original problem statement === More equivalent statements of the theorem have been given. The original version by Cobham is the following: Another way to state the theorem is by using automatic sequences. Cobham himself calls them "uniform tag sequences." The following form is found in Allouche and Shallit's book:We can show that the characteristic sequence of a set of natural numbers S recognisable by finite automata in base k is a k-automatic sequence and that conversely, for all k-automatic sequences u {\displaystyle u} and all integers 0 ≤ i < k {\displaystyle 0\leq i 1 {\displaystyle \alpha >1} is the dominant eigenvalue of the matrix of morphism f {\displaystyle f} , namely, the matrix M ( f ) = ( m x , y ) x ∈ B , y ∈ A {\displaystyle M(f)=(m_{x,y})_{x\in B,y\in A}} , where m x , y {\displaystyle m_{x,y}} is the number of occurrences of the letter x {\displaystyle x} in the word f ( y ) {\displaystyle f(y)} . A set S of natural numbers is α {\displaystyle \alpha } -recognisable if its characteristic sequence s {\displaystyle s} is α {\displaystyle \alpha } -substitutive. A last definition: a Perron number is an algebraic number z > 1 {\displaystyle z>1} such that all its conjugates belong to the disc { z ′ ∈ C , | z ′ | < z } {\displaystyle \{z'\in \mathbb {C} ,|z'|

Factored language model

The factored language model (FLM) is an extension of a conventional language model introduced by Jeff Bilmes and Katrin Kirchoff in 2003. In an FLM, each word is viewed as a vector of k factors: w i = { f i 1 , . . . , f i k } . {\displaystyle w_{i}=\{f_{i}^{1},...,f_{i}^{k}\}.} An FLM provides the probabilistic model P ( f | f 1 , . . . , f N ) {\displaystyle P(f|f_{1},...,f_{N})} where the prediction of a factor f {\displaystyle f} is based on N {\displaystyle N} parents { f 1 , . . . , f N } {\displaystyle \{f_{1},...,f_{N}\}} . For example, if w {\displaystyle w} represents a word token and t {\displaystyle t} represents a Part of speech tag for English, the expression P ( w i | w i − 2 , w i − 1 , t i − 1 ) {\displaystyle P(w_{i}|w_{i-2},w_{i-1},t_{i-1})} gives a model for predicting current word token based on a traditional Ngram model as well as the Part of speech tag of the previous word. A major advantage of factored language models is that they allow users to specify linguistic knowledge such as the relationship between word tokens and Part of speech in English, or morphological information (stems, root, etc.) in Arabic. Like N-gram models, smoothing techniques are necessary in parameter estimation. In particular, generalized back-off is used in training an FLM.

JBoss Tools

JBoss Tools is a set of Eclipse plugins and features designed to help JBoss and JavaEE developers develop applications. It is an umbrella project for the JBoss developed plugins that will make it into JBoss Developer Studio. == Modules == JBoss Tools includes the following modules: Visual Page Editor (VPE). The visual editor contributed by Exadel supports visual editing of HTML and JSF (JSP and Facelets) pages. VPE also includes visual support for JSF component libraries including JBoss RichFaces. Seam Tools. Includes support for (for example) seam-gen, RichFaces VE integration, Seam related code completion and refactoring. Hibernate Tools. Supporting mapping files, annotations and JPA with reverse engineering, code completion, project wizards, refactoring, interactive HQL/JPA-QL/Criteria execution and more. In short a merger of Hibernate Tools and Exadel ORM features. JBoss AS Tools. Easy start, stop and debug of JBoss AS 4+ servers from within Eclipse. Also includes features for packaging and deployment of any type of Eclipse project. Drools IDE. Rules file editing, Rete View, working memory debugging/inspection and more. jBPM Tools. jBPM workflow editing, deployment, etc. JBossWS Tools. Inspecting, invoking, developing and functional/load/compliance testing of web services over HTTP, base tooling provided by soapUI with the addition of JBossWS specific features/support. JBoss ESB Tools. The structured xml editor for the jboss-esb.xml file used in JBoss ESB. Birt Tools. Hibernate and Seam extensions for Eclipse BIRT. Portal Tools. JBoss Tools supports the JSR-168 Portlet Specification (Portlet 1.0), JSR-286 Portlet Specification (Portlet 2.0) and works with PortletBridge for supporting Portlets in JSF/Seam applications. To enable these features, add the JBoss Portlet facet to a new or an existing web project. Core/General Tools. To reduce the UI clutter, most of the "configure project" menu items move into the Configure menu introduced in Eclipse 3.5 instead of always having a static JBoss Tools menu entry show up even in projects unrelated to JBoss Tools. Smooks Tools. The editor for Smooks configuration files. JBoss ESB Tools. The ESB project Wizard, which creates a project that can be deployed as an .esb archive to a JBoss AS-based server with JBoss ESB installed. JMX Tools. JMX Tools allows establishing multiple JMX connections and provides views for exploring the JMX tree and execute operations directly from Eclipse. The JMX Tools replaces the JMX node previously available in the JBoss Server View. JST/JSF Tools. RichFaces Support, Code Assists, Web XML/JSP/XHTML Editors, CSS Style Editing, web.xml validation, Faceleted taglib in taglib.xml is supported with XSD schema location. Project Examples. The experimental feature called Project Example wizard aims to allow users to download example projects from a remote site and have them working out-of-the-box. AS/Project Archives Tools. To deploy projects compressed, configurable in the server editor. If enabled, all projects deployed to that server will be compressed instead of in an exploded folder. Maven Tools. The optional integration with m2eclipse to provide Maven support for projects created by JBoss Tools and to some extent core WTP projects. BPEL Tools. A BPEL Editor based on the Eclipse BPEL project has been added to JBoss Tools. This means that users can create, edit and deploy BPEL artifacts for the Riftsaw BPEL Runtime. CDI (JSR-299) Tools. Support of the Contexts and Dependency Injection annotations; it works on any Eclipse Java project (via the Configure menu with CDI enabled).

Markov partition

A Markov partition in mathematics is a tool used in dynamical systems theory, allowing the methods of symbolic dynamics to be applied to the study of hyperbolic dynamics. By using a Markov partition, the system can be made to resemble a discrete-time Markov process, with the long-term dynamical characteristics of the system represented as a Markov shift. The appellation 'Markov' is appropriate because the resulting dynamics of the system obeys the Markov property. The Markov partition thus allows standard techniques from symbolic dynamics to be applied, including the computation of expectation values, correlations, topological entropy, topological zeta functions, Fredholm determinants and the like. == Motivation == Let ( M , φ ) {\displaystyle (M,\varphi )} be a discrete dynamical system. A basic method of studying its dynamics is to find a symbolic representation: a faithful encoding of the points of M {\displaystyle M} by sequences of symbols such that the map φ {\displaystyle \varphi } becomes the shift map. Suppose that M {\displaystyle M} has been divided into a number of pieces E 1 , E 2 , … , E r {\displaystyle E_{1},E_{2},\ldots ,E_{r}} which are thought to be as small and localized, with virtually no overlaps. The behavior of a point x {\displaystyle x} under the iterates of φ {\displaystyle \varphi } can be tracked by recording, for each n {\displaystyle n} , the part E i {\displaystyle E_{i}} which contains φ n ( x ) {\displaystyle \varphi ^{n}(x)} . This results in an infinite sequence on the alphabet { 1 , 2 , … , r } {\displaystyle \{1,2,\ldots ,r\}} which encodes the point. In general, this encoding may be imprecise (the same sequence may represent many different points) and the set of sequences which arise in this way may be difficult to describe. Under certain conditions, which are made explicit in the rigorous definition of a Markov partition, the assignment of the sequence to a point of M {\displaystyle M} becomes an almost one-to-one map whose image is a symbolic dynamical system of a special kind called a shift of finite type. In this case, the symbolic representation is a powerful tool for investigating the properties of the dynamical system ( M , φ ) {\displaystyle (M,\varphi )} . == Formal definition == A Markov partition is a finite cover of the invariant set of the manifold by a set of curvilinear rectangles { E 1 , E 2 , … , E r } {\displaystyle \{E_{1},E_{2},\ldots ,E_{r}\}} such that For any pair of points x , y ∈ E i {\displaystyle x,y\in E_{i}} , that W s ( x ) ∩ W u ( y ) ∈ E i {\displaystyle W_{s}(x)\cap W_{u}(y)\in E_{i}} Int ⁡ E i ∩ Int ⁡ E j = ∅ {\displaystyle \operatorname {Int} E_{i}\cap \operatorname {Int} E_{j}=\emptyset } for i ≠ j {\displaystyle i\neq j} If x ∈ Int ⁡ E i {\displaystyle x\in \operatorname {Int} E_{i}} and φ ( x ) ∈ Int ⁡ E j {\displaystyle \varphi (x)\in \operatorname {Int} E_{j}} , then φ [ W u ( x ) ∩ E i ] ⊃ W u ( φ x ) ∩ E j {\displaystyle \varphi \left[W_{u}(x)\cap E_{i}\right]\supset W_{u}(\varphi x)\cap E_{j}} φ [ W s ( x ) ∩ E i ] ⊂ W s ( φ x ) ∩ E j {\displaystyle \varphi \left[W_{s}(x)\cap E_{i}\right]\subset W_{s}(\varphi x)\cap E_{j}} Here, W u ( x ) {\displaystyle W_{u}(x)} and W s ( x ) {\displaystyle W_{s}(x)} are the unstable and stable manifolds of x, respectively, and Int ⁡ E i {\displaystyle \operatorname {Int} E_{i}} simply denotes the interior of E i {\displaystyle E_{i}} . These last two conditions can be understood as a statement of the Markov property for the symbolic dynamics; that is, the movement of a trajectory from one open cover to the next is determined only by the most recent cover, and not the history of the system. It is this property of the covering that merits the 'Markov' appellation. The resulting dynamics is that of a Markov shift; that this is indeed the case is due to theorems by Yakov Sinai (1968) and Rufus Bowen (1975), thus putting symbolic dynamics on a firm footing. Variants of the definition are found, corresponding to conditions on the geometry of the pieces E i {\displaystyle E_{i}} . == Examples == Markov partitions have been constructed in several situations. Anosov diffeomorphisms of the torus. Dynamical billiards, in which case the covering is countable. Markov partitions make homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits particularly easy to describe. The system ( [ 0 , 1 ) , x ↦ 2 x m o d 1 ) {\displaystyle ([0,1),x\mapsto 2x\ mod\ 1)} has the Markov partition E 0 = ( 0 , 1 / 2 ) , E 1 = ( 1 / 2 , 1 ) {\displaystyle E_{0}=(0,1/2),E_{1}=(1/2,1)} , and in this case the symbolic representation of a real number in [ 0 , 1 ) {\displaystyle [0,1)} is its binary expansion. For example: x ∈ E 0 , T x ∈ E 1 , T 2 x ∈ E 1 , T 3 x ∈ E 1 , T 4 x ∈ E 0 ⇒ x = ( 0.01110... ) 2 {\displaystyle x\in E_{0},Tx\in E_{1},T^{2}x\in E_{1},T^{3}x\in E_{1},T^{4}x\in E_{0}\Rightarrow x=(0.01110...)_{2}} . The assignment of points of [ 0 , 1 ) {\displaystyle [0,1)} to their sequences in the Markov partition is well defined except on the dyadic rationals - morally speaking, this is because ( 0.01111 … ) 2 = ( 0.10000 … ) 2 {\displaystyle (0.01111\dots )_{2}=(0.10000\dots )_{2}} , in the same way as 1 = 0.999 … {\displaystyle 1=0.999\dots } in decimal expansions.