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# Your Age Is Now Required: Australia's Social Media Ban Explained
- URL: https://techlore.tech/your-age-is-now-required-australias-social-media-ban-explained/
- Published: 2025-12-12T00:52:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-07T23:19:51.000Z
- Author: Henry Fisher
- Tags: Surveillance Report

This week's Surveillance Report covers the dangerous reality that social media bans ARE age verification, India's push for even more invasive phone surveillance, a massive vulnerability actively exploited against major companies, the EU's new proposal to gut GDPR protections, Petco's escalating security disasters, border agents charging people for protecting their data, and more!

📰

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#### Episode Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Surveillance Report  
00:40 Highlight: Australia's Social Media Ban  
08:06 Vulnerability Hitting Countless Sites  
09:52 India's Surveillance Tech Continues  
13:30 Support Techlore!  
14:50 EU's Digital Omnibus  
19:56 Petco's Data Breach(es) Saga  
23:20 Man Arrested for Wiping Phone?  
27:20 Defense Bulletin

#### Episode Sources

****Highlight: Social Media Bans ARE Age Verification**

- <https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/10/australia-16-year-old-teens-ban-social-media-policy-law-ig-tiktok-fb-reddit-youtube-snapchat.html>
- <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/australian-teens-confident-that-theyll-beat-new-age-checks/807316/>
- <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/10-not-so-hidden-dangers-age-verification>
- <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/age-verification-coming-internet-we-built-you-resource-hub-fight-back>
- <https://tuta.com/blog/chat-control-criticism>

****Story 1: React2Shell - Critical Vulnerability Actively Exploited**

- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/react2shell-flaw-exploited-to-breach-30-orgs-77k-ip-addresses-vulnerable/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cloudflare-blames-todays-outage-on-emergency-react2shell-patch/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/react2shell-critical-flaw-actively-exploited-in-china-linked-attacks/>

****Story 2: India Pushes for Greater Phone Location Surveillance**

- <https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/india-weighs-greater-phone-location-surveillance-apple-google-samsung-protest-2025-12-05/>

****Story 3: EU's New Digital Package Threatens to Gut GDPR Protections**

- <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/eus-new-digital-package-proposal-promises-red-tape-cuts-guts-gdpr-privacy-rights>

****Story 4: Petco's Escalating Security Disasters**

- <https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/05/petco-confirms-security-lapse-exposed-customers-personal-data/>
- <https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/08/petcos-security-lapse-affected-customers-ssns-drivers-licenses-and-more/>
- <https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/petco-takes-down-vetco-website-after-exposing-customers-personal-information/>

****Story 5: Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before Border Search**

- <https://www.404media.co/man-charged-for-wiping-phone-before-cbp-could-search-it/>
- <https://www.techspot.com/news/110560-man-arrested-allegedly-wiping-google-pixel-before-cbp.html>

****The Defense Bulletin**

- <https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/12/sms-phishers-pivot-to-points-taxes-fake-retailers/>
- <https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/11/security-flaws-in-freedom-chat-app-exposed-users-phone-numbers-and-pins/>
- <https://privacytools.techlore.tech/#messengers>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisa-warns-of-chinese-brickstorm-malware-attacks-on-vmware-servers/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/predator-spyware-uses-new-infection-vector-for-zero-click-attacks/>
- <https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/04/sanctioned-spyware-maker-intellexa-had-direct-access-to-government-espionage-victims-researchers-say/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-ads-for-shared-chatgpt-grok-guides-push-macos-infostealer-malware/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-fixes-eighth-chrome-zero-day-exploited-in-attacks-in-2025/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-droidlock-malware-locks-android-devices-and-demands-a-ransom/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-spiderman-phishing-service-targets-dozens-of-european-banks/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/pharma-firm-inotiv-discloses-data-breach-after-ransomware-attack/>
- <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-warns-of-virtual-kidnapping-ransom-scams-using-altered-social-media-photos/>
- <https://proton.me/blog/sheets-proton-drive>
- <https://www.wired.com/story/new-anonymous-phone-carrier-sign-up-with-nothing-but-a-zip-code/>
- <https://nextcloud.com/blog/december-maintenance-updates-nextcloud-hub-10-nextcloud-hub-25-autumn/>
- <https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-146/>
- <https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-2025-updates/>
- <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tails-7%5F3%5F1/>
- <https://brave.com/blog/ai-browsing/>
- <https://www.freebsd.org/releases/15.0R/announce/>
- <https://tech.yahoo.com/computing/articles/homebrew-now-help-install-flatpaks-175146379.html>
- <https://9to5linux.com/new-jolla-phone-now-available-for-pre-order-as-an-independent-linux-phone>
- <https://almalinux.org/blog/2025-12-02-almalinux-media-entertainment-sig/>
- <https://blog.notesnook.com/notesnook-and-addyio>
- <https://www.mullvad.net/en/blog/2025/12/10/removing-openvpn-from-the-mullvad-vpn-app/>
- <https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/amazon-changes-how-copyright-protection-is-applied-to-kindle-directs-self-published-ebooks/>
- <https://joinloops.org/our-mission>