This week seems to be about hasty decisions:
First, it looks like the Adelaide Festival Board didn’t anticipate the backlash that would come when it decided last week to disinvite Palestinian-Australian Muslim author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah to speak at Adelaide Writers’ Week. Not even a week later an the Director, (almost) the whole Board and the Writer’s Week event are gone.
And, Meta has come out with the numbers in terms of accounts it has blocked in compliance with the hastily rolled-out social media minimum age requirement. While it is complying, it used the opportunity to remind the government and the community that it thinks age verification and parental approval should happen at the app store level.
Also: eSafety wants an explanation about Grok derobing people plus Google wants you to let AI manage your inbox and do your online shopping for you.
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What’s been going on?
Here's WTF happened this week:
Adelaide Writers’ Week axed for 2026
The Adelaide Festival Board’s decision to disinvite Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah to speak at Adelaide Writers’ Week has led to Board and leadership resignations, writers boycotts and the cancellation of the event.
Yesterday the Adelaide Writers’ Week was cancelled due to a significant number of speakers pulling out in response to the Board’s decision the week before to rescind an invitation to speak that had been made to Palestinian-Australian Muslim author, academic, lawyer and human rights advocate Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. Past statements Dr Abdel-Fattah had made, the Board said, meant "it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi."
