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.

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What's going on?

Here’s what I’ve noticed this week:

What to expect in tech regulation in 2025

TL;DR
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.