Category Archives: Media

Lib Dems call for urgent regulation of YouTube ads after wave of scams

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Party wants video platform to face same scrutiny as broadcasters due to deepfake and investment scams

The Liberal Democrats are calling for urgent regulation of YouTube advertising after scams including deepfakes, impersonated public figures and fraudulent investment claims were found to be spreading on the platform with little oversight.

The party said YouTube’s adverts remain largely unchecked by independent regulators, despite new data from Ofcom showing the platform has overtaken ITV in weekly UK viewership and continues to dominate children’s media consumption.

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UK pornography taskforce to propose banning ‘barely legal’ content after Channel 4 documentary airs

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Programme about performer Bonnie Blue condemned for ‘glamorising and normalising’ extreme pornography

The new pornography taskforce will propose legislation this autumn aimed at banning a type of “barely legal” content produced by the porn star Bonnie Blue, the Guardian has learned.

The proposed action by the independent pornography taskforce, launched last month by the Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, comes in response to the broadcast of the Channel 4 documentary 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story. The programme followed the performer for six months and included her claim to have had sex with 1,057 clients over the course of 12 hours.

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Logies 2025: Home and Away’s Lynne McGranger wins gold as Fisk dominates Australia’s TV awards

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Soap star wins as her 32-year run playing Irene Roberts ends, while streamers go home mostly empty-handed and Magda Szubanski gives emotional speech as she is inducted into the Hall of Fame

The Home and Away actor Lynne McGranger has won the Gold Logie award for most popular personality on Australian television as she ends her record 32-year run playing the much-loved matriarch Irene Roberts.

McGranger is the longest-serving female actor in any Australian drama, having played Irene for nearly 33 years. She announced her departure in February and her final episode will air mid-August.

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Palestine Action ban coupled with Online Safety Act ‘a threat to public debate’

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Rights bodies say new law and proscription of direct action group create risk of censorship of Gaza-related content

The Online Safety Act together with the proscription of Palestine Action could result in platforms censoring Palestinian-related content, human rights organisations have warned.

Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship and others have written to Ofcom calling on it to provide clear guidance to platforms on distinguishing lawful expression from content deemed to be in support of terrorism.

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UK Online Safety Act risks ‘seriously infringing’ free speech, says X

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Elon Musk’s social media platform says lawmakers made a ‘conscientious decision’ to increase censorship

Elon Musk’s X platform has said the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) is at risk of “seriously infringing” free speech as a row deepens over measures for protecting children from harmful content.

The social media company said the act’s “laudable” intentions were being overshadowed by its aggressive implementation by the communications watchdog, Ofcom.

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US placed on rights watchlist over health of its civil society under Trump

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International non-profit Civicus says ‘sustained attacks on civic freedoms’ put US on par with El Salvador and Kenya

A group of global civil society organizations have placed the US on a watchlist for urgent concern over the health of its civic society, alongside Turkey, Serbia, El Salvador, Indonesia and Kenya.

On Wednesday, a new report released by the non-profit Civicus placed the US on its watchlist following “sustained attacks on civic freedoms” across the country, according to the group.

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Mary Kostakidis tells court Zionist federation racial discrimination case is ‘embarrassing’ and too vague

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Exclusive: Federation head says in response that former SBS newsreader’s attempt to strike out case is ‘without foundation and should be rejected’

Mary Kostakidis has asked the federal court to strike out an “embarrassing” Zionist Federation of Australia racial discrimination claim on the grounds it fails to identify which race, ethnicity or nationality was offended by her social media posts about Israel.

The journalist’s interlocutory application said the claim is “embarrassing” because it is so ambiguous it could include ethnic Arabs who follow the Jewish faith or “a Jewish person who is ethnically Swedish”.

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Angela Rayner: No 10 officials guilty of ‘self-harm’ by briefing against ministers

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Exclusive: Deputy PM hits out at targeting of herself and others – often women – with negative headlines

Angela Rayner has hit back at anonymous No 10 officials who have briefed against senior cabinet ministers in recent months, warning them they are committing “self-harm”.

The deputy prime minister launched an outspoken defence of herself and other colleagues – often women – who have found themselves the subject of negative headlines in recent months, with several being tipped for the sack at a future reshuffle.

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Beware the blizzard of lies: US advice on how to handle Farage’s Trump tactics

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Pro-democracy campaigners suggest ‘pre-buttal’ is more powerful than factchecking in fighting falsehoods

Truth, the progressive California politician Hiram Johnson once said, is the first casualty of war. His oft-cited remark was supposedly made in 1918 in reference to the first world war, which had by then caused millions of human casualties.

More than a century later, truth is again caught in the crossfire, this time as a casualty of 21st-century culture wars.

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Ex-Sun editor David Dinsmore to take up government communications role

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Dinsmore will join Whitehall as civil servant in top communications role after reportedly impressing Starmer during interview

A former editor of the Sun will take up a senior communications role at the heart of government.

David Dinsmore, editor of the tabloid from 2013 to 2015, will be a civil service appointment rather than a political adviser, tasked with improving the government’s communications operation. The role is separate to the No 10 director of communications.

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Bill Clinton reportedly sent Jeffrey Epstein note for birthday album

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Wall Street Journal reports ex-president’s letter, while New York Times reports Trump called Epstein ‘the greatest’

Donald Trump apparently isn’t the only president that sent a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. “The biggest name in the album” was Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The ex-president’s letter appeared alongside nearly 50 others, including other prominent celebrities and executives.

Last week, the Journal reported that Trump had authored a “bawdy” letter to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 after he was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges. The letter was included in an album Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell compiled on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters and the newspaper’s publisher Dow Jones for libel and slander over the reporting.

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UK should act to stop children getting hooked on social media ‘dopamine loops’

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Beeban Kidron says it is not ‘nanny state’ to prevent firms investing billions on making platforms addictive from targeting under-18s

A leading online safety campaigner has urged the UK government to “detoxify the dopamine loops” of addictive social media platforms as tech companies prepare to implement significant child protection measures.

Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer, asked the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to use the Online Safety Act to bring forward new codes of conduct on disinformation and on tech features that can lead to children becoming addicted to online content.

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Newsman or businessman? Murdoch walks tightrope in battle with Trump

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Longstanding relationship between media mogul and US president is being tested amid Trump’s lawsuit over a WSJ story about his ties to Epstein

Rupert Murdoch had made up his mind. “We want to make Trump a nonperson,” he assured one of his former executives in a 2021 email, two days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Over seven decades, Murdoch has sought to charm, challenge and change prime ministers and presidents as he built one of the world’s most powerful media empires. In this particular endeavor, however, he failed.

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M&S advert banned for featuring model who looked ‘unhealthily thin’

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ASA ruling comes amid fears fashion industry reversing progress in body positivity movement

An advert by high street retailer Marks & Spencer has been banned for featuring an “irresponsible” image of a model who appeared “unhealthily thin”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the model’s pose, choice of clothing and the camera angle which seemed to tilt downwards all contributed to the impression she was too thin.

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AFP news agency calls on Israel to allow evacuation of its freelance contributors

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Palestinian journalists working for French organisation say desperate hunger and lack of clean water is making them ill

News agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has called on Israel to allow the immediate evacuation of its freelance contributors and their families from the Gaza Strip, a day after they warned that they were struggling to work due to starvation.

In a statement, the French news agency said its freelancers faced an “appalling situation” in Gaza. A 21-month war with Israel has devastated the territory, a conflict triggered by Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel in October 2023.

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‘No long sermons’: how influencer Catholic priests are spreading the word of God online

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Vatican invites 1,000 social media missionaries to digital jubilee conference

Mixing prayer and gospel with poetry, art and bodybuilding, the rising stars in the influencer world are not just those flaunting fashion and travel but also Roman Catholic priests spreading the word of God.

Pope Francis latched on to the trend and, just months before his death in April, made the mission of evangelising on social media a priority for the church.

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Trump requests release of Epstein court documents but says ‘nothing will be enough for the troublemakers’ – US politics live

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Move seeks to quell controversy that has engulfed the administration since it said it would not release more files from Epstein’s sex trafficking case

As Donald Trump tries to claim he was “not a fan” of Jeffrey Epstein, photos, videos and anecdotes paint a picture of their relationship, writes Adam Gabbatt:

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, has called for Barack Obama and former senior US national security officials to be prosecuted after accusing them of a “treasonous conspiracy” intended to show that Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election win was due to Russian interference.

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A PR dream or disaster? Jet2’s holiday advert finds new life as joke meme

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In a social media trend, the airline’s joyful advert jingle is being played over cheerless summer holiday footage

You’re the boss of a travel company, it’s early summer and your brand is going viral. Millions of people are watching and sharing social media clips of people on holiday, the soundtrack to which is your company jingle.

It sounds like a PR dream, but is it?

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Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over Epstein report

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President follows through on libel threat over report that said he sent Epstein ‘bawdy’ birthday note and sketch

Donald Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters for libel and slander over claims that he sent the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a lewd letter and sketch of a naked woman.

Trump’s lawsuit on Friday, which also targets Dow Jones and News Corp, was filed in the southern district of Florida federal court in Miami.

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Netflix uses generative AI in one of its shows for first time

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Firm says technology used in El Eternauta is chance ‘to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper’

Netflix has used artificial intelligence in one of its TV shows for the first time, in a move the streaming company’s boss said will make films and programmes cheaper and of better quality.

Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive of Netflix, said the Argentinian science fiction series El Eternauta (The Eternaut) is the first it has made that involved using generative AI footage.

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