Good morning. It's Friday, Nov. 8, and we're covering what may be the world's first social media ban, the Fed's interest rate decision, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.
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Australia's Social Media Ban |
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced legislation yesterday to ban social media for children under 16. The proposed law, set to be introduced in Parliament in the coming weeks, would require platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X, to bar access to children and teenage users. There are no exceptions for parental consent.
If approved, companies would have 12 months to implement blocking measures or face potential fines. Albanese said the platforms would bear responsibility, with no penalties for users, arguing the ban is necessary due to social media's harmful effects on young people's mental health. Critics contend an all-out ban will not work and argue that social media is a valuable tool for social support.
About 95% of teens use some kind of social media, spending an average of 4.8 hours daily—41% of high-use teens rate their mental health as poor or very poor. The US Surgeon General has called for tobacco-style warning labels on social media platforms. |
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates |
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced a quarter-percentage-point cut in benchmark rates yesterday, bringing the range to between 4.5% and 4.75%. A further cut is potentially slated for the committee's final meeting of the year in December.
The meeting—which the Fed pushed back a day to create space from Election Day—comes amid cooling inflation and buoyant markets. Officials are looking to cut rates enough to slow recent rises in the unemployment rate, but not so quickly that inflation stops cooling. Since the bank's September rate cut, borrowing costs for mortgages and car loans have gone up—contrary to the Fed's goal. This is potentially due to optimistic market outlooks leading to bond sell-offs, which drive up Treasury yields—a key factor in mortgage rates.
Analysts and officials are also debating the potential impact of Trump's proposed tariffs on inflation, including a universal tariff of at least 10% on all imported goods. Watch an overview of the Federal Reserve here. |
The Food and Drug Administration proposed removing an ingredient in common over-the-counter cold medicines from store shelves yesterday.
Oral phenylephrine is found in hundreds of cold medicines, including Benadryl, NyQuil, Mucinex, and Sudafed. Since coming to market in the 1990s, it was thought to relieve congestion by reducing blood vessel swelling in nasal passages (see ingredient's history, w/video). Last year, however, an FDA advisory panel found the ingredient, while safe, is ineffective when administered orally. The medicines are widely popular, generating nearly $1.8B in sales for CVS and Walgreens in 2022. More than 50% of US households used an oral decongestant over the past year.
The proposal now goes to public comment before companies may be forced to reformulate products. In the meantime, consumers can check to see if their cold medicines include other active ingredients (with or without phenylephrine). They may also consider nasal spray versions of phenylephrine, which are still considered effective. |
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In partnership with Incogni |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs Round One wraps this weekend; see preview for all the decisive Game 3 matchups (More) | ... and National Women's Soccer League quarterfinals kick off tonight (More) |
> Warner Bros. Discovery streamer Max adds 7.2 million subscribers in Q3, bringing their worldwide total to 110.5 million (More) | "Moana 2" set to bring in at least $125M in Thanksgiving Day opening weekend, which would be an all-time debut record for the holiday weekend (More) |
> New "Star Wars" film trilogy in the works from Lucasfilm and Disney; live-action films will be written and produced by "X-Men" writer and producer Simon Kinberg (More) | Three charged in connection with the Oct. 16 death of One Direction's Liam Payne (More) |
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> Tech giant Palantir to partner with AI startup Anthropic, bringing Claude chatbot to US military, intelligence agencies (More) |
> Brain study reveals unique activity in people with schizophrenia when introduced to contradictory information; signals could act as a diagnostic tool (More) |
> Caterpillar fungus may help slow tumor development, researchers show; molecule cordycepin, used in Chinese medicine for centuries, disrupts cell signals that promote cancer growth (More) |
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In partnership with Mode Mobile |
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> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.7%, Dow -0.0%, Nasdaq +1.5%); S&P 500, Nasdaq close at records in postelection rally (More) | AppLovin shares close up 46% after the online gaming and advertising company reports better-than-expected earnings and revenue (More) |
> Airbnb shares fall close to 5% in after-hours trading after company narrowly beats revenue estimates, underperforms analyst expectations (More) | Pinterest shares drop nearly 13% in after-hours trading after weak Q4 sales forecast (More) |
> Japanese automaker Nissan to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide—roughly 6% of around 133,000 total jobs—and halve CEO pay after reporting drops in quarterly operating profit and sales (More) | Caroline Ellison, former CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund Alameda Research, begins two-year prison sentence (More) |
📈 1440 Business & Finance: Next week, we're taking a deep dive into the state of the gig economy—sign up here for free. |
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> Control of US House still to be determined, with 25 races uncalled; tally as of this writing is 211-199 in favor of Republicans (More) | David McCormick (R) beats incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D) in Pennsylvania, giving Republicans 53 Senate seats (More) | Susie Wiles to become White House's first female chief of staff
(More) |
> More than 10,000 people forced to evacuate after fire near Los Angeles burns for second day; Mountain Fire has burned over 20,400 acres and is 0% contained as of this writing (More) | See updates (More) |
> Canada orders TikTok's offices to shut down in the country over security risks; ban doesn't affect in-country access to the video-sharing app (More) |
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> Is Beauty Natural?
Aeon | Abigail Tulenko. What is beauty's purpose in the natural world? Compare the views of novelist Jane Austen (of "Pride and Prejudice") with famed biologist Charles Darwin, who brought her books on his many expeditions. (Read)
> The Freedom of the Bike
Bicycling | Kim Cross. The stories of fear and displacement experienced by female cyclists in Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover in 2021, who barred women from cycling on immodesty grounds. (Read) |
> Straight, Incorporated
Audacy | Sari Crawford and Cyndy Etler. A 1980s drug rehab facility promised parents freedom for their kids suffering from addiction—but the program's patients faced invasive, cultlike therapies akin to brainwashing. (Listen)
> How Kidney Transplants Work
TED-Ed | Alexander H. Toledo. Less than a century ago, kidney transplants didn't exist—but surgical pioneers invented the procedure now administered to over 100,000 people annually in the US. (Watch) |
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In partnership with Incogni |
Your Personal Info Is Floating Around the Web |
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