Blog  ⌇ What was I thinking…?

WTF now?: Monday 13–Sunday 19 January 2025

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My weekly reading round-up

TikTok going offline in the US is a premonition of what is to come for tech regulation in 2025. Also there are serious concerns about theatres – both in terms of allegations of sex offences and a lack of accessibility.


I am evolving my reading lists a little. I am often reading lots of things on or related to the same topic, so rather than focusing on a specific article, I am moving towards simpler, high-level commentary on the broader topic with a list of links related to it. That’s also why I have renamed this sub-blog. It used to be called (Un)read in the ledger because it was about what I was (or wanted to be) reading. Adopting WTF now?reflects on the fast pace of change we all feel these days, that every day there seems to be another controversey and it gives me room to be more thematic with the weekly listings I share. Let me know what you think of the change.

So, for this week’s WTF now? I look at TikTok shutting off its service in the United States and what we can expect in terms of tech regulation from Trump and elsewhere. The Australian theatre sector is in the spotlight because of alleged sexual offences and inadequate accessibility. And Triple J has been the troublemaker of radio for 50 years.


What’s going on?

Here’s what I’ve noticed this week:

What to expect in tech regulation in 2025

Tech regulation out of the White House will shift under Trump, but governments around the world will keep pursuing harm reduction.

Tech regulation will continue in earnest in 2025. We will see movement on AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, online safety and social media regulation in 2025, but don’t expect Trump to prioritise protecting people. It is likely he will dump the civil rights approach we saw in the Biden administration in favour of policy anchored to innovation, economic competitiveness and protecting free speech. Elsewhere, governments and intergovernmental agencies remain concerned with balancing technology innovation, especially around AI, with the need to reduce harms to productivity, people and the planet. But Trump’s second term – and American tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg vowing to work with him to push back on government regulation of Big Tech around the world – is complicating things.


What’s worth reading on tech regulation:

Tech law in 2025: a look ahead at AI, privacy and social media regulation under the new Trump administration

The Conversation

Press Release | A new UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies Classes: rl-heading-other-coverage

United Nations Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, United Nations

EU reassesses tech probes into Apple, Google and Meta, FT reports

Reuters

Tech giants told UK online safety laws ‘not up for negotiation’

The Observer

TikTok’s no longer available in the US

It has been a long time coming, but with the US Supreme Court upholding the TikTok ban the video sharing social media platform is no longer available in America.

Since 2020 there has been moves in the US to ban TikTok and on Friday the US Supreme Court held that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act does not violate freedom of speech under the First Amendment based on Congress’ “national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.” Failing to get clarity from the Biden administration, the app has gone offline in the United States and has been pulled from app stores. Interestingly, the company is pinning its hopes on President-elect Donald Trump, even though Trump issued an executive order against them and Congress’ ban was prompted by Trump during his first administration. Trump has indicated he will likely sign an executive order placing a 90-day suspension on the ban it is unclear if that will be lawful under the legislation. Here in Australia there was a call by the Coalition to ban TikTok that didn’t go anywhere, but some commentators are tipping other countries such as the UK may follow suit.


What’s worth reading on this latest development in the US TikTok ban:

TikTok Inc. v Garland 604 U.S. _ (2025)

Supreme Court of the United States

TikTok says it will ‘go dark’ unless it gets clarity from Biden following Supreme Court ruling

AP News, The Associated Press

Could TikTok ever be banned in the UK too?

British Broadcasing Corporation

TikTok ban falls hard on Apple and Google Classes

POLITICO

Two sets of allegations of sex offences against theatre leadership should concern the art sector

Two sets of allegations of sex offences against former leaders of theatre companies in two weeks should be a flag for the sector.

The former CEO of Brisbane’s Harvest Rain Theatre Company Timothy O’Connor has been named as the party charged with almost sixty counts of child and adult sex offences. It is alleged O’Connor used his position of influence to perpetrate the offences. Similar allegations were last week directed against the former director of Launceston’s Encore Theatre Company Danny Gibson. If true, this is very concerning for theatre and the whole arts sector. I hope the sector will take it seriously and work collaboratively to develop strategies for identifying and dismantling this kind of behaviour.


What’s worth reading on about these two sets of allegations:

Harvest Rain Company’s former CEO faces court on multiple abuse charges

ArtsHub

Encore Theatre Company ‘concerned’ by allegations against former director Danny Gibson

ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

I agree accessibility in the arts should be constant

Many Australian theatres are inaccessible for artists, arts workers and audiences with disability.

Jonathan Llewellyn has an anecdotally-driven reminder why accessibility in the arts should be constant. Llewellyn focuses on physical access at performing arts venues – which definitely is not my area of expertise – but also notes that many arts organisations’ websites are not WCAG2.0 AA accessibility compliant. As an arts marketer that is something I totally agree with. I would also add that too many arts organisations do not create adequate alt text for images, if they are adding alt text at all. There’s no excuse for it. There is plenty of resources to help organisations make their marketing efforts more accessible. I have added links to a number below.

I also liked the jibe at logo grids on marketing material:

“Do you really need all of those logos on that flyer instead of a proper sized font? Can they be credited in a more meaningful way? I’ve never heard a patron say they bought a ticket because of a logo!”


What’s worth reading on accessibility in arts marketing and useful resources:

Talking about access should be part of every day…

ArtsHub

AAA Advice : Accessible Marketing [DOC]

AAA Advice : Disability Language [DOC]

Marketing and communications checklist [DOCX 84.3 KB]

Online and print inclusive design and legibility considerations

How to make social media accessible: Our top three tips, the Social Media Accessibility Checklist

Email marketing guide – how to create accessible EDM campaigns

Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA)

At 50 is Triple J going strong or growing weak?

Triple J started broadcasting 50 years ago today, but will it be here in another 50?

National youth radio network Triple J turned 50 today. From the very first song broadcast, Triple J has propelled youth voices, challenged censorship and promoted independent music. Each time its audiences (and its presenters!) ‘age out’ it has reinvented itself by staying across the music and the social issues its audience care about. That’s probably why it still has many detractors.

It’s its golden anniversary has been sadly marred by the loss of one of its pioneers this week. Long time music director Arnold Frolows passed away last Sunday. Still, to mark the occasion, digital sister radio station Double J is rebroadcasting Triple J’s first day today from 11 am to 11 pm. The celebration continues next week with the 32nd Hottest 100. Votes for the best track of 2024 coming in for all over, but you only have until tomorrow to cast your vote.


What’s worth reading on the history of Triple J:

50 years of Triple J: challenging censorship, supporting Australian artists, and ‘no dope in the studio!’

The Conversation

Ratings in freefall and a shift to TikTok tastes: Triple J’s not very happy birthday [paywalled]

The Sydney Morning Herald

Triple J At 50: The Best Complaints, Controversies & Straight Up Excellent Moments

The Music

This year’s triple j Hottest 100 voting stats show the breadth of the countdown’s reach

ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Remember these? The top Triple J Hottest 100 songs from decades past

ArtsHub


A bit on the side

Other tasty tidbits this week:

More to read

I use Are.na to gather and organise links about things I am interested in. If you are interested in TOPIC too, take a look at these channels:Of course, there’s lots of other stuff I have been reading that doesn’t make it into the weekly round up. If the long list is too much, I also group links into collections:

Topics: Artificial intelligenceArts & cultureCybersecurityMarketing communicationsPrivacySocial mediaTechnology & the internet

Players: TikTok

If you are on Are.na too you can even add links to those channels.

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Disclosure

Conflict of interest

I am an arts marketing consultant.

I have written content for ArtsHub. I was not remunerated for that content.

AI use

This blog post was drafted using Google Docs. No part of the text of this blog post was generated using AI. The original text was not modified or improved using AI. No text suggested by AI was incorporated. If spelling or grammar corrections were suggested by AI they were accepted or rejected based on my discretion (however, sometimes spelling, grammar and corrections of typos may have occurred automatically in Google Docs).

The icon in the banner image (i.e. the first image at the top of the blog post) was generated by AI using Text to Vector Graphic (Beta) in Adobe Illustrator. Prompt: ‘An outlined question mark and exclamation mark’.


Credits

A large question mark in two shades of yellow and a large exclamation mark is in two shades of pink. Both sit on an aqua background.

Image: A colourful icon of a question mark and exclamation mark. The question mark is in two shades of yellow and the exclamation mark is in two shades of pink. Both sit on an aqua background. The icon is an adaptation of an vector graphic generated by Elliott Bledsoe using the AI tool Text to Vector Graphic (Beta) in Adobe Illustrator.


Provenance

This blog post was produced by Elliott Bledsoe from Agentry, an arts marketing micro-consultancy. It was first published on 19 Jan 2025. It has not been updated. This is version 1.0. Questions, comments and corrections are welcome – get in touch any time.


Reuse

Good ideas shouldn’t be kept to yourself. I believe in the power of open access to information and creativity and a thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture. That’s why this blog post is licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons licence.

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Under the licence, you are free to copyshare and adapt this blog post, or any modified version you create from it, even commercially, as long as you give credit to Elliott Bledsoe as the original creator of it. So please make use of this blog post as you see fit.

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