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The UK government has announced a consultation, asking people for their feedback on whether to introduce a social media ban for children under 16 years old. It would also explore how to enforce that limit, how to limit tech companies from being able to access children's data and how to limit "infinite scrolling," as well as access to addictive online tools. In addition to seeking feedback from parents and young people themselves, the country's ministers are going to visit Australia to see the effects of the country's social media ban for kids, according to Financial Times.
Australia's minimum age social media ban went into effect on December 10. It's the first of its kind and covers several social media platforms, including Facebook, X, TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, YouTube and Reddit. Just recently, Meta shut down nearly 550,00 accounts, most of which were on Instagram, to comply with the new law.
The UK passed the Online Safety Act in 2023 and has been enforcing its rules since. Last year, for instance, it started requiring websites that publish pornography to conduct age checks for users. But British politician Liz Kendall said parents still have serious concerns about the content their children can consume online. As
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Spotify is raising the prices for its premium subscriptions by $1 to $2 across the board, starting this February. Those are similar figures to the company's last price hike in 2024. Subscribers across the US, Estonia and Latvia will soon receive an email, notifying them that they'll be paying a larger amount for their February bill.
The streaming service said it's raising its prices occasionally to "reflect the value that Spotify delivers," "to continue offering the best possible experience" and to "benefit artists." It reported last year that it paid out $10 billion to music rights-holders in 2024. However, it's worth noting that several Grammy-nominated songwriters boycotted an awards event it hosted to protest the supposed decreasing royalties songwriters are getting from Spotify plays.
Subscribers who choose to keep their accounts will now have to pay $13 instead of $12 a month for an individual plan or $7 instead of $6 for a student plan. The Duo plan will now cost users $19 a month instead of $17, while the Family plan will cost them $22, up $2 from its previous price of $20. Meanwhile, those who decide to cancel their plans can follow our guide right here.
Spotify came under fire late last year for running recruitment ads for ICE. It said the advertisements were part of a larger campaign by the US government that ran across platforms, including Meta and Google. The company also recently confirmed that the campaign has ended that there are
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