☕️ TikTok's last bid to overturn a U.S. ban

This is the last newsletter of the year before the team goes on break for two weeks.

So, thank you for always entertaining my bad jokes and for indulging my weekly riddles. Sending out the newsletter every morning is one of the best parts of my job, and each of your messages is always read with a smile on my face.

We’ll be back on 6 January. Until then, if you get caught making awkward small-talk over the break, remember that riddles are always a crowd-pleaser!

“In the absence of an uplift in government funding, as of January 2025, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia will no longer be in a position to offer free admission to the public.”
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chair Lorraine Tarabay on the art gallery’s introduction of $20 entry tickets.

62 US cents
The value of the Australian dollar in the U.S. — the lowest level since October 2022. It comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates in the U.S.

2007
The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904) by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso was stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil.

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has been granted a final opportunity to legally challenge a ban in the U.S.

This year, the U.S. Congress passed a law to force the Chinese-owned ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a nationwide shutdown.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments from the social media platform’s executives and users, in an attempt to have the law overturned.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 January, nine days before the ban is set to take effect.

Social media platform TikTok is owned by China-based ByteDance. It’s used by approximately 170 million Americans — roughly half the country’s population.

The U.S. Government has expressed concerns about the potential sharing of app user data with the Chinese Government.

ByteDance has repeatedly denied these claims.

In April, a bill to ban the app passed Congress with support from both parties, and it became law.

The law also targets any social and digital media apps operated “directly or indirectly” by ByteDance.

To avoid the ban, ByteDance would have to sell its U.S. operations to a non-Chinese company.

A TikTok spokesperson welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to hear its legal challenge.

The company has labelled the legislation “unconstitutional,” arguing that it violates Americans’ rights to “exercise their free speech.”

TikTok has also rejected security concerns, saying it has invested billions of dollars “to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.”

Reporting by Achol Arok.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates that 4.5% of Australia’s population over the age of 16 are LGBTQIA+.

This estimate is based on data from around 45,000 responses to a series of health surveys.

It comes months after the Government decided to ask people their sexual orientation at the 2026 Census, backflipping on a previous decision.

Here’s what you need to know.

The age group with the highest proportion of LGBTQIA+ people is those aged 16 to 24.

This proportion declines for older age brackets. Only 1.4% of people aged 75 and older identify as LGBTQIA+.

The graph shows the proportion of people aged 16 years and over who are LGBTQIA+, according to the ABS.

An estimated 910,000 people in Australia are LGBTQIA+. Of this group, 740,000 people are “lesbian, gay, bisexual or use a different term to describe their sexual orientation.”

0.9% of all Australians are trans or gender diverse — around 178,900 people. Another 0.3% were born with variations of sex characteristics, also referred to as being intersex.

Non-binary people are more likely to identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Three in four non-binary people identify as LGB+, compared to 15% of trans men, 21% of trans women, 3% of cis men, and almost 4% of cis women.

LGB+ people are more likely to live in metropolitan areas than regional and remote parts of Australia.

People who are LGB+ are also more likely to be born in Australia. 21.5% of Australians who are LGB+ were born overseas, and around 5% speak a language other than English.

Of the 0.9% of Australians who are trans and gender diverse, around:

Younger people are also more likely to be trans or gender diverse compared to older Australians.

Nearly three in ten trans and gender diverse Australians are aged between 16 and 24.

The ABS conducted four health surveys this year focusing on LGBTQIA+ Australians. As part of these surveys, people were asked about their sexual orientation.

Nearly 45,000 responses were collated to create these “experimental estimates”.

The ABS said the data isn’t truly representative of all of Australia’s population in the same way as the national Census.

In 2023, the Labor Party committed to ensuring “the 2026 Census gathers relevant data on LGBTIQ+ Australians”.

In August this year, the Federal Government said it would no longer include questions about sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics. The move received backlash from LGBTIQ+ advocacy groups and organisations.

The Government partly walked back its decision days later. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the 2026 Census will include “one question about sexuality”.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

Are you trying to grow your savings?

The New Year is just around the corner—why wait to get ahead? Blossom is the award-winning app that makes it simple to grow your money faster, starting today.

Here’s why thousands of Aussies are choosing Blossom:

Don’t wait for 2025 to build your financial future. Start growing your savings with Blossom today!

All investments carry risk. Past performance does not indicate future performance. This post is not personal financial advice and should be read in conjunction with the PDSs, TMDs, and FAQs at blossomapp.com.

🍊 Cruz Hewitt, son of Lleyton, given golden opportunity.
🍊 The Bucks win the NBA Cup and Dame Lillard scores big.
🍊 What's harder coaching or politics? Food for thought.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: a random fact, surfing and more…

Comfort Dental’s ‘Care Day’ on December 23 has been running since 1984, giving access to dental care for those unable to access services regularly. Last year’s Care Day saw more than $AU2 million worth of dental services donated. President and Founder of Comfort Dental Dr. Rick Kushner said for some patients, it’s the only time they can access a dentist “all year.”

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Travelling between the Sydney and Melbourne airports these holidays?

If it seems exceptionally busy, that might be because it’s the fifth busiest domestic flight route in the world!

The Official Airline Guide has released its 2024 list of the world’s busiest flight routes.

Internationally, Hong Kong and Taipei is the busiest route, with 6.8 million seats. In second place is Cairo to Jeddah (5.5 million seats), closely followed by Seoul to Tokyo (5.4 million seats).

Korea holds the top spot for the busiest domestic flight route (14 million seats), between Seoul and Jeju. Japan holds second and third place, followed by Vietnam, and then Australia in fifth place.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

We are coming to the end of 2024, and what a big year it has been in the news!

On today’s podcast, we reflect on some of the biggest moments of the year - from politics to pop culture.