Our Scans · (ZY.4.18) Media Studies · Weekly Summary

• [New] Advertising continues to remain a powerhouse driving the global entertainment and media industry's revenues - and it will play an increasingly greater role as AI-powered hyper-personalization transforms engagement with end-users. PwC
• [New] The UK Government has announced that it plans to introduce a total ban on access to social media for children under 16. Mishcon de Reya LLP
• [New] From 2027, under-16s would be banned from social media platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, X and Instagram. The Week
• [New] Weekly use of AI chatbots for news rose from 7% in 2025 to 10% in 2026, with growth concentrated in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Southern and Eastern Europe - regions with historically weaker institutional media infrastructure and higher vulnerability to AI-generated disinformation. CRC
• [New] The UK's proposed social media ban, due to come into force in 2027, would block under-16s from accessing Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X and Facebook and from livestreaming or communicating with strangers on gaming sites such as Roblox. The Guardian
• [New] Global social media ad spend is projected to reach $338.75 billion by 2026, with U.S. spending accounting for $126 billion. DataRefs
• [New] Social media advertising is projected to reach $338.75 billion in 2026. DataRefs
• [New] Albanian and international media organizations criticised the draft laws as a threat to free expression and online journalism. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
• [New] How any future age verification legislation in the UK around social media and particularly messaging in gaming could therefore affect it, if at all, is still unknown. BBC News
• [New] One of the biggest emerging questions about the UK's social media ban is how it will be enforced. BBC News
• [New] The project managers who win in 2026 will be the ones who combine technology, data, and communication into delivery models that are both fast and dependable. Medium
• [New] In Japan, Rapidus is moving from R&D towards its target of mass production of 2 nm logic semiconductors by 2027, supported by funding from the Japanese government and several private sector companies. PwC
• As smartphones, platform tools, AI, and low-cost production reduce barriers to entry, livestreaming and short-form user-generated content (UGC) videos will shift media further away from centrally controlled distribution and towards a more democratised environment. PwC
• The opposing forces of platform centralization and content decentralization will continue to shape the media and entertainment industry, as they have since the birth of the World Wide Web. PwC
• This week, the UK announced a wide-ranging ban on social media that will soon block users from communicating or accessing information on apps such as X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat unless they prove that they are over the age of 16. The Guardian
• Importance for marketers: OpenAI is building more of the infrastructure advertisers expect from mature media platforms. MarketingProfs
• Under-16s will lose access to social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, while the minimum age for chatbots that imitate romantic interactions will be raised to 18. Wired
• Skills in demand: For 59% of PR professionals, storytelling and content creation will be the number one in-demand skill of 2026, followed by media relations at 44%. Sprout Social
• The long-term outlook: 59% of professionals expect AI and automation to be the single most critical factor in industry growth over the next five years, outpacing media relations and traditional strategic planning. Sprout Social
• On the other hand, estimates from Statista predict the US to have 316.07 million social media users in 2026, and it's projected to grow further, reaching 330.07 million social media users by 2029. demandsage
• Key deepfake statistics for 2026: deepfake files grew from roughly 500,000 in 2023 to a projected 8 million in 2025, a deepfake fraud attempt occurred every five minutes in 2024, and only 0.1% of people can reliably tell AI-generated media from real. Deepfake Detector
• As big media brands such as Schibsted in the Nordics, the Daily Mail and the Independent in the UK, and the Washington Post and many others in the US set up their own 'creator labs', the dividing line between conventional and alternative news media will only become more blurred. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
• The European Commission's AI Office convened a new round of working group meetings to advance the forthcoming Code of Practice on the Marking and Labelling of AI-Generated Content, which will establish technical benchmarks for identifying synthetic media under the EU AI Act. EU DisinfoLab

Last updated: 02 July 2026