social media Archives

Posted on July 19, 2026July 19, 2026 by Tona.Today — Leave a comment

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrested in Miami

Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, whose social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities, were arrested Saturday in Miami as British authorities sought their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges.

The brothers were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told The Associated Press, placing the United States at the center of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to Britain.

British prosecutors announced Saturday that they were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.

The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations and the Romanian case hasn’t gone forward because of legal and procedural problems.

Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and flew to Florida on a private jet.

The brothers are expected to appear in Miami’s federal court early next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

The pending charges in the United Kingdom accused the brothers of abusing women in an area north of London, where they grew up. Their lawyers had said they denied the allegations.

Joseph McBride, an attorney representing the Tate brothers, said in a phone interview Saturday evening that he has not been able to speak with his clients but called the new charges out of the U.K. “filth and slander” intended to derail defamation lawsuits filed by the brothers in the U.S.

“They’re pulling out all the stops to make sure these guys never get their day in court,” McBride said.

“We are confident that once a competent judge sees the facts, and once the Department of Justice confronts this egregious abuse of its own authority, Andrew and Tristan Tate will walk free. America does not do Britain’s political dirty work.”

Andrew Tate, 39, first reached a mainstream audience as a contestant on the U.K. reality television show “Big Brother” in 2016. He was removed from the show when a video surfaced that appeared to show Tate assaulting a woman. He and his brother Tristan Tate, 38, are vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Andrew Tate has amassed over 10 million followers on X but has been banned from platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for violating hate speech guidelines. His most widely condemned rhetoric includes comments that women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for their attacks, graphic descriptions of how he might attack women and criticisms of people who seek treatment for mental illness.

The Tate brothers have consistently denied allegations of abuse and human trafficking, claiming that violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.

In a statement Saturday, the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Services said that in addition to the charges publicly announced against the brothers in 2025, involving alleged crimes against three women, it was bringing a total of 38 new charges related to “four further victims.”

Both brothers are accused of rape and human trafficking. Andrew Tate faces an additional charge of profiting from prostitution, and 19 charges “for offences relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography,” according to U.K. authorities.

“There is no place for male violence against women and girls, and we will continue to work tirelessly to support victims and investigate all reports made to us,” said Karena Thomas, an assistant chief constable of the Bedfordshire Police, which investigated the case. (JapanToday)

Posted on December 15, 2025December 14, 2025 by Tona.Today — Leave a comment

US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

Tourists from dozens of countries including the UK could be asked to provide a five-year social media history as a condition of entry to the United States, under a new proposal unveiled by American officials.

The new condition would affect people from dozens of countries who are eligible to visit the US for 90 days without a visa, as long as they have filled out an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) form.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has moved to toughen US borders more generally – citing national security as a reason.

Analysts say the new plan could pose an obstacle to potential visitors, or harm their digital rights.

Asked whether the proposal could lead to a steep drop-off in tourism to the US, Trump said he was not concerned.

“No. We’re doing so well,” the president said on Wednesday.

“We just want people to come over here, and safe. We want safety. We want security.

“We want to make sure we’re not letting the wrong people come enter our country.”

The US expects a major influx of foreign tourists next year, as it hosts the men’s football World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, and for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The proposal document was filed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component agency Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

It was published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the US government.

The proposal says “the data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years”, without giving further details of which specific information will be required.

The existing ESTA requires a comparatively limited amount of information from travellers, as well as a one-off payment of $40 (£30). It is accessible to citizens of about 40 countries – including the UK, Ireland, France, Australia and Japan – and allows them to visit the US multiple times during a two-year period.

As well as the collection of social media information, the new document proposes the gathering of an applicant’s telephone numbers and email addresses used over the last five and 10 years respectively, and more information about their family members.

The text cites an executive order from Trump in January, titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”.

The new proposal regarding ESTA data collection for tourists invites views from the public for 60 days.

“Nothing has changed on this front for those coming to the United States,” a spokesperson for CBP said in a statement.

“This is not a final rule, it is simply the first step in starting a discussion to have new policy options to keep the American people safe.”

Sophia Cope, of digital rights organisation the Electronic Frontier Foundation, criticised the plan, telling the New York Times it could “exacerbate civil liberties harms”.

Meanwhile, immigration law practice Fragomen suggested there could be practical impacts as applicants could face longer waits for ESTA approvals. (BBC)

Posted on December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 by Tona.Today — Leave a comment

Following Australia’s lead, Denmark plans to ban social media for children under 15

As Australia began enforcing a world-first social media ban for children under 16 years old this week, Denmark is planning to follow its lead and severely restrict social media access for young people.

The Danish government announced last month that it had secured an agreement by three governing coalition and two opposition parties in parliament to ban access to social media for anyone under the age of 15. Such a measure would be the most sweeping step yet by a European Union nation to limit use of social media among teens and children.

The Danish government’s plans could become law as soon as mid-2026. The proposed measure would give some parents the right to let their children access social media from age 13, local media reported, but the ministry has not yet fully shared the plans.

Many social media platforms already ban children younger than 13 from signing up, and a EU law requires Big Tech to put measures in place to protect young people from online risks and inappropriate content. But officials and experts say such restrictions don’t always work.

Danish authorities have said that despite the restrictions, around 98% of Danish children under age 13 have profiles on at least one social media platform, and almost half of those under 10 years old do.

The minister for digital affairs, Caroline Stage, who announced the proposed ban last month, said there is still a consultation process for the measure and several readings in parliament before it becomes law, perhaps by “mid to end of next year.”

“In far too many years, we have given the social media platforms free play in the playing rooms of our children. There’s been no limits,” Stage said in an interview with The Associated Press last month.

“When we go into the city at night, there are bouncers who are checking the age of young people to make sure that no one underage gets into a party that they’re not supposed to be in,” she added. “In the digital world, we don’t have any bouncers, and we definitely need that.”

Under the new Australian law, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X and YouTube face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts of Australian children younger than 16.

Some students say they are worried that similar strict laws in Denmark would mean they will lose touch with their virtual communities.

“I myself have some friends that I only know from online, and if I wasn’t fifteen yet, I wouldn’t be able to talk with those friends,” 15-year-old student Ronja Zander, who uses Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, told the AP.

Copenhagen high school student Chloé Courage Fjelstrup-Matthisen, 14, said she is aware of the negative impact social media can have, from cyberbullying to seeing graphic content. She said she saw video of a man being shot several months ago.

“The video was on social media everywhere and I just went to school and then I saw it,” she said.

Line Pedersen, a mother from Nykøbing in Denmark, said she believed the plans were a good idea.

“I think that we didn’t really realize what we were doing when we gave our children the telephone and social media from when they were eight, 10 years old,” she said. “I don’t quite think that the young people know what’s normal, what’s not normal.”

Danish officials are yet to share how exactly the proposed ban would be enforced and which social media platforms would be affected.

However, a new “digital evidence” app, announced by the Digital Affairs Ministry last month and expected to launch next spring, will likely form the backbone of the Danish plans. The app will display an age certificate to ensure users comply with social media age limits, the ministry said.

“One thing is what they’re saying and another thing is what they’re doing or not doing,” Stage said, referring to social media platforms. “And that’s why we have to do something politically.”

Some experts say restrictions, such as the ban planned by Denmark, don’t always work and they may also infringe on the rights of children and teenagers.

“To me, the greatest challenge is actually the democratic rights of these children. I think it’s sad that it’s not taken more into consideration,” said Anne Mette Thorhauge, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen.

“Social media, to many children, is what broadcast media was to my generation,” she added. “It was a way of connecting to society.”

Currently, the EU’s Digital Services Act, which took effect two years ago, requires social media platforms to ensure there are measures including parental controls and age verification tools before young users can access the apps.

EU officials have acknowledged that enforcing the regulations aiming at protecting children online has proven challenging because it requires cooperation between member states and many resources. (ABC)

Posted on December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 by Tona.Today — Leave a comment

Australian PM defends social media ban as teens brag about staying online

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday acknowledged some young people were still on social media a day after a world-first ban on under-16s went ‌live, saying the rollout was always going to be bumpy but would ultimately save lives.

A day after the law took effect, Australian social media feeds were flooded with comments from people claiming to be under 16, ⁠including one on the prime minister’s TikTok account saying “I’m still here, ‍wait until I can vote”.

Under the law, 10 of the biggest ‍platforms including TikTok, Meta’s ‍Instagram and Alphabet’s YouTube must bar underage users or face a fine of up ⁠to A$49.5 million ($33 million). The government has said previously that it would take some time for the platforms to set up processes to do this.

“Of course it isn’t smooth,” Albanese told Melbourne radio station FOX. “You can’t in one day switch off over a million accounts across the board. But it is happening.”

On Nova Radio in Sydney, Albanese added: “If it was easy, someone else would have done it.”

Governments around the world have said they would monitor the Australian rollout as ⁠they weigh whether to do something similar. U.S. Republican senator Josh Hawley endorsed the ban as it took effect, Nine newspapers reported.

The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF warned in a statement the ban might encourage children to visit less regulated parts of the internet and could not work alone.

“Laws introducing age restrictions are not an alternative to companies improving platform design and content moderation,” the statement said.

Albanese has pitched the ban as an intervention to protect young people from mental health risks associated with social media, including bullying, body image problems and addictive algorithms.

The measure would “save lives and it will change lives for this and future generations”, he told Nova.

Australian searches for virtual private networks (VPNs), which can mask an internet user’s location, surged to the highest in about 10 years in the week before the ban took effect, according to publicly available Google data.

Free VPN provider hide.me told Reuters it experienced a 65% spike in visits from Australia ⁠in the days before the ban kicked in, although that had not translated to a rising number of downloads.

All 10 platforms named by the ban opposed it before saying they would comply. As the ban took effect, ‍some platforms not covered by the ban rose to the top of app download ‌charts, prompting the Australian government to ‌say the platform list was “dynamic”.

One app, Lemon8, which ‍is owned by TikTok parent Bytedance, introduced an age minimum of 16. Photo-sharing app Yope told Reuters it ‌had experienced “very fast growth” to about 100,000 Australian users. About half ‍its users were over 16.

The company told Reuters it had told the Australian internet regulator overseeing the rollout that it considered itself a private messaging service, not social media. (JapanToday)

Posted on September 30, 2025September 29, 2025 by Tona.Today — Leave a comment

Musk’s X to appeal Indian court ruling on Secretive Content removal system

Social media platform X said on Monday it plans to appeal an Indian court order that would allow over two million police officers nationwide to issue arbitrary takedown requests via a secretive online portal called the Sahyog.

“We will appeal this order to defend free expression,” X said in a post on the platform, in its first statement since the High Court of Karnataka ruled last week that there was no legal merit to the company’s legal challenge to quash India’s content removal mechanisms, according to Reuters.

“The Sahyog enables officers to order content removal based solely on allegations of “illegality,” without judicial review or due process for the speakers, and threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance,” X said on Monday.

X has locked horns with New Delhi in the past, equating the government’s mechanisms with censorship. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the new system tackles a proliferation of unlawful content and ensures accountability online.

X owner Elon Musk has clashed with authorities in several countries over compliance and content takedown demands.

However, the company’s Indian lawsuit targeted the entire basis for tightened internet regulation in the world’s most populous nation.

Modi’s government has ramped up efforts to police the internet since 2023 by allowing many more officials to file takedown orders and submit them directly to tech firms through a website launched in October. (Channels)