Just come off BBC Radio interview about Twitter's 20th birthday and I called it Twix. A: it has a ring to it. B. need more covfefe

Discord to start requiring face scan or ID to access adult content The online chat service, which has 200 million monthly users, will blur adult content by default.

Chatted to BBC News earlier about Discord’s new age verification + teen safe by default settings www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today we’re launching Battenhall Labs – our global innovation unit for emerging tech.

Battenhall Labs brings together our specialists to help brands apply new technology responsibly and effectively.

Read more from Chief Innovation Officer and Labs lead, @philsheard.bsky.social: btnhl.com/4qmSBtD

An ineffectual social media ban for kids will be the legislation's undoing.

Or worse, those who experience real harms from social media, dark social, messaging apps, the dark web or AI will be less safe as a result.

A social media ban for kids in the UK seems inevitable now, but to do it on safety grounds is fraught with problems.
- There are already age restrictions, they don't work
- Kids use VPNs already to for example use apps at school 
- Social media isn't the problem: dark social is

The challenges we face as the UK considers banning social media for under-16s As the world watches the impact of a social media ban for under-16s that took effect in Australia back in December, governments elsewhere are now considering the best way to keep young people safer on...

Some thoughts... In my role as head of the youth social media safety nonprofit Raise I commend Liz Kendall’s announcement of the UK government’s three month consultation on social media use for under 16s in the UK. Next is the challenging bit. www.raisegeneration.com/post/the-cha...

Very proud of my latest eBay purchase I think I’m becoming a 1980s tech collector 👀

One week in, a look at Coverstar, Yubo and Bump, the apps rising from Australia's teen social media ban Since the Australian government banned a set of social networking apps for under-16s last week, users have shifted to new places online

I've taken a look at the apps rising in Australia one week after the teen social media ban kicked in. Hello Coverstar, Yubo, Bump, Rednote and more... open.substack.com/pub/drewbenv...

What I’d love to see: progressive tech reforms, education programs and a better understanding of how agile our teenage digital escape artists really are. If any country’s govt think banning social media for kids will make lives safer, they are sorely mistaken as to how the real world really works.

We’re about to find out what’s more harmful to teens than algorithmically shaped, moderated and peer-protected social media. It’s AI companions, dark social and fake social IDs.

Australia’s under-16 social media ban is now in force, and here’s the biggest reason it will backfire: Teens are safer on social media than on the alternative, which includes messaging apps used as social networks, dark social, and fake-age permitted adult social.

Not that often a UK comms job opens up at a hot social network but Substack is hiring

substack.com/@drewbenvie/...

Rare UK comms job at a top social network
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

Looking forward to heading to Bristol this afternoon to speak at Communicate Conference about the year ahead in social media. Final touches to the deck. Will be good to be baaaack

Faux Jewels and Slimming Belts: Why Shopping on TikTok Is a Lot Like QVC

TikTok shop has done $10bn of sales in the U.S. year to date: “Faux Jewels and Slimming Belts: Why Shopping on TikTok Is a Lot Like QVC“

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...

X’s New Feature Reveals Why Trust & Safety Work Was Never About The ‘Censorship Industrial Complex’ For the last few years, Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, and their allies have spent considerable energy attacking both academic researchers studying disinformation and the trust & safety te…

X’s troll exposé shows why social media trust & safety teams were so vital on Twitter: combating coordinated inauthentic behaviour, not censoring viewpoints

www.techdirt.com/2025/11/24/x...

What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users Lost Touch With Reality

“As ChatGPT surged in popularity, longtime safety experts burned out and started leaving.” A fascinating long read in the New York Times about the problematic growth of an AI chatbot
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/t...

Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.

Twitter inadvertently unmasks fake influencers in new transparency feature that shows where an account was originally set up. Dozens of accounts based in Russia, India and Nigeria pretending to be Trump supporting Americans revealed in the process

www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-inf...

Unpicking the teen social media shakeup that started this week in Australia As Australia enlarges its list of banned platforms for under-16s to include Twitch, the world is watching to see what kids do next, and if the internet really is safer without social media

Twitch and Kick added to the list of social media that will be banned for Australia’s under-16s from December 10th.

open.substack.com/pub/drewbenv...

We’re hiring social media analysts in London at Battenhall. Come join our team and help me predict things and count things and keep our beloved clients a step ahead.

www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

Big day today it’s the annual Battenhall social media briefing event at The British Library in London. 300 brands registered to attend this year and I need to finish learning my lines. 🙏🏼☕️💥

Battenhall named 2025 Specialist Consultancy of the Year at PRWeek UK Awards Battenhall does the double at PRWeek UK Awards winning Specialist Agency of the Year and receiving a Highly Commended honour for Small Consultancy of the Year

Proud as punch to win two
agency of the year awards at PR Week last night. www.battenhall.com/blog/battenh...

Looking for followers on Sora 2. And yep I have invite codes but mainly want to follow my network on there 👋🏼

sora.chatgpt.com/profile/drew...

Crystal ball time: social media in 2026 On 5th November I’ll be presenting at Battenhall’s annual social media keynote in London, and as I look at what's shaping the year ahead, it feels like the perfect time to restart this Substack.

Decided to start writing my Substack again. Thoughts on the year ahead in social media… open.substack.com/pub/drewbenv...

woohoo! Here for Bluesky being used more by ppl

Loving Bitchat so far. Feels like OG Twitter meets WhatsApp meets Reddit. Dorsey’s new experiment leans into social media culture: it works offline, disappearing content, anonymous users, no tracking, panic mode, etc etc.

Good or bad idea?

I’m @drew on there, look forward to finding out!

Musk's X appoints 'king of virality' in bid to boost growth - BBC News Nikita Bier has previously developed platforms that have proved popular with teen users.

Chatted to the BBC earlier about whether Twitter can reinvent itself with new product chief Nikita Bier at the helm www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Pier 57 is my new favourite place (and the bits around it where I’ve been spending much of this week)

It’s 5am, big day ahead so two coffees it is. Can’t ever remember it being as hot as this in New York ☀️🥵

“What is missing is not social media bans. It’s safeguards.” Interview with Drew Benvie Guest interview with Drew Benvie, founder of social media safety non-profit Raise

I don't often get interviewed like this but here's a new one. Thank you to Logging Off Club for the chat... loggingoffclub.substack.com/p/what-is-mi...