It’s Wednesday, and Snap hopes wearing Specs will make you feel like Iron Man. The Snapchat parent company has tapped Robert Downey Jr. to promote its AR glasses in the role of “Chief Customer Experience Officer.”

COURT OF LAW

The lawsuit: Last December, Australian regulators began enforcing sweeping restrictions on youth social media use—and promptly fell flat on their faces.

To put it bluntly, the plan to keep Aussie under-16s off social media has been an abject failure. According to some studies, Australian youths are more active on social media than they were before the ban took effect.

Now, the Australian government is looking for someone to blame—and it’s pointing its proverbial finger at the platforms included in its ban. Per Bloomberg, the antipodean tech regulator known as the eSafety Commissioner is preparing a lawsuit that would target Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.

The suit hasn’t been filed yet, but Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said that we can “expect” eSafety head Julie Inman Grant to file suit against the beleaguered platforms.

The context: If that filing comes to fruition, it’s likely to trigger a contentious legal battle. The platforms targeted by eSafety’s rumored lawsuit have protested against Australia’s youth social media ban—but they’ve also repeatedly claimed to adhere to the law. Meta, for example, reported earlier this year that it had taken action against over 750,000 accounts believed to be used by underage Australians.

Australian authorities are now contesting Big Tech’s account of the situation. Earlier this month, Wells insisted that “the law is not failing—platforms are failing to comply with the law.”

In the court of public opinion, however, Australia could be facing a losing battle. Tech advocates are supporting underage social media users and their right to use VPNs. If officials in Canberra want to bring the social media fight to court, they risk squandering the tenuous support their ban has thus far received.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

SHOPPING SPREE

The partnership: What do e-bikes, action figures, and knockoff NBA jerseys have in common? You can buy all of those items through AliExpress.

The Alibaba-owned retailer is one of China’s ecommerce giants—and after achieving profitability during the most recent quarter, it’s going into business with YouTube. A newly announced pact between the two companies will give YouTube Shopping a stronger presence in China’s booming ecommerce market while also opening up affiliate opportunities for creators across the globe.

The two partners tested the waters with a team-up in South Korea, which went live this past March. Now, according to the terms of their agreement, AliExpress will bring more products to its listings on YouTube and will offer new commissions to creators in the US, Brazil, Germany, and the UK.

AliExpress will also take advantage of YouTube’s affiliate marketing infrastructure, which has leveled up in recent years thanks to enhancements like Collections and timestamped shopping links.

The context: YouTube’s deal with AliExpress resembles other ecommerce agreements it’s made this year, including pacts with retailers like Amazon and Rakuten. Those deals have helped YouTube keep up with TikTok, which has leveraged its Chinese roots to turn TikTok Shop into a global phenomenon.

As the TikTok Shop clientele pivots toward luxury items, YouTube is getting in on the ground floor with deals drawn from AliExpress’ Brand+ catalog. The resulting sales could bring more maturity to the YouTube Shopping ecosystem while putting more money in creators’ pockets.

YouTubers in participating markets can head to YouTube Studio to determine whether they’re eligible to take advantage of the new AliExpress offers.

CREATOR COMMOTION

The convention: For the second year in a row, a student-run bizdev convention will unite local creators at New York’s Syracuse University.

Matty Weisholtz and Elizabeth Riehl are putting on the 2026 edition of ’CUSE Creator Con, which is set to run from October 22 to 23 under the theme of “Owned and Operated.”

The convention will have keynotes and panels with folks from platforms and companies like Meta, Spotter, Proud Management, and Out2Win, as well as expert faculty members from Syracuse and other universities.

It’ll also offer a fireside chat focused on e.l.f.’s successful social marketing strategy, and a creator showcase featuring Syracuse students the Sideline Sisters, Motivational Mondays, Brandon Nguyen, Spencer Howard, Grace Vickner, and Gabe Cohen.

The co-runners: ’CUSE Creator Con co-runner Weisholtz is President of Syracuse student club ’Cuse Creative Studios, a Teen Vogue campus correspondent, and a content creator in her own right. According to Syracuse University Today, she landed her first brand deal with luxe fashion company Valentino and has been pitching and partnering with other brands ever since. She was also invited to join fellow creators in New York City this past summer with Google and Alex Cooper’s media company Unwell.

Weisholtz’s co-runner Riehl is a PR major and Project Manager for Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Relations. She works with student-run PR firm Hill Communications and helps produce content for the university’s social accounts.

At ‘CUSE Creator Con, Riehl aims to make content that will “help maximize the guest experience” (per Syracuse University Today).

While the event is limited to Syracuse students, Riehl said no student should feel like they aren’t important enough of a creator to attend. She also encouraged folks to attend even if they aren’t on-camera creators, because our industry spans tons of production, administrative, legal, support, and other roles.

WATCH THIS 👀

The creator-led cause: With so many companies and governments jumping into the AI race, the arrival of superintelligence seems closer at hand than ever before. That’s where Team Human comes in.

As Siliconversations explains in a new video, Team Human is a creator-led movement “calling for an international treaty to regulate AI” and a “ban on developing superintelligent AI until scientists figure out how to stop it from killing everyone.”

So far, the cause has picked up support from some of the biggest stars on YouTube, with Mark Rober, Kurzgesagt, Jenny Hoyos, Kyle Hill, Rebecca Zamolo, Preston, and dozens of other top creators adding their names to The Team Human Statement (not to mention 216,000+ other signees).

Check out Siliconversations’ overview of Team Human’s mission here to find out more.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, James Hale, and Josh Cohen.