{"id":898633,"date":"2026-09-20T07:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T07:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898633\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T07:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T07:08:17","slug":"anthony-albanese-and-tim-cook-inside-the-prime-ministers-meeting-at-apple-park-to-discuss-child-safety-and-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898633\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese and Tim Cook: Inside the prime minister\u2019s meeting at Apple Park to discuss child safety and social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rob<\/p>\n

September 20, 2026 \u2014 1:45pm<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

There was something almost The Truman Show about Anthony Albanese\u2019s Californian morning at Apple Park.<\/p>\n

The prime minister had travelled to the heart of Silicon Valley to meet Tim Cook \u2013 or, as Donald Trump once called him, \u201cTim Apple\u201d<\/a> \u2013 and spruik Australia\u2019s world-leading crackdown on social media for under-16s.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe prime minister gets a demonstration of Apple\u2019s new child safety features at Apple Park in Cupertino, California.Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n

If only Ed Harris had wandered into shot to tell him the whole thing was a set.<\/p>\n

Instead, there was the enormous circular Apple \u201cSpaceship\u201d headquarters with its carbon-sink oak forest across 70 hectares, with olive groves, roaming coyotes, gleaming glass and enough security to ensure the travelling journalists saw only the parts of the $5 billon compound that Apple wanted them to see.<\/p>\n

The media pack was briefly allowed inside the foyer for a child-friendly product demonstration of Apple\u2019s latest products, including the new foldable Duo phone. It\u2019s just $3499.<\/p>\n

But the meeting was off limits. No cameras nor photographs, not even pictures of the buildings or Apple employees. The journalists could look, but they could not record. Not even a sighting of the cult leader.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the world of \u201cTim Apple\u201d, complete with the Steve Jobs Memorial Theatre.<\/p>\n

Albanese spent an hour behind closed doors with Cook and the Apple executive team, continuing a relationship that began when the Apple boss called him in June to discuss the company\u2019s new child-safety controls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cook had told Albanese the changes were partly inspired by Australia\u2019s world-leading social media age ban, as well as Apple\u2019s own research into the effects of social media on children.<\/p>\n

Now the bromance was rekindled at Apple Park. Tech brothers from another mother.<\/p>\n

\"AppleApple executive chairman Tim Cook with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Anthony Albanese on x.com<\/p>\n

Cook later posted that he was grateful to welcome @AlboMP to Apple Park to discuss the company\u2019s \u201clongstanding commitment to Australia\u201d and its latest innovations to help keep children safe online.<\/p>\n

Albanese, who rarely meets a celebrity without an obligatory for a selfie, was even more effusive.<\/p>\n

He said it was a \u201cproud moment\u201d to have the head of a company that had \u201cchanged the world\u201d recognise Australia\u2019s leadership in protecting children from the negative consequences of technology.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Prime<\/a><\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s new controls allow parents to limit the time children spend on particular apps and devices, restrict who can message them and introduce other safeguards.<\/p>\n

There was, however, a rather obvious irony hanging over the morning. As one wag in the journalist pack observed that the scene was a bit like McDonald\u2019s selling shots of Ozempic as part of a meal deal.<\/p>\n

Apple is, after all, one of the companies most responsible for putting a powerful computer in the pockets of just about every adult \u2013 and an increasingly large number of children.<\/p>\n

Albanese was at pains to say this was not a war on technology.<\/p>\n

The iPhone and Apple\u2019s products had delivered \u201cenormous benefits\u201d, he said, while artificial intelligence could improve healthcare, including cancer detection and diagnosis.<\/p>\n

The task, in the prime minister\u2019s telling, was to make sure people remained in control.<\/p>\n

That argument will be central to Albanese\u2019s international push on artificial intelligence as he prepares for talks at the United Nations.<\/p>\n

He also discussed the government\u2019s proposed \u201cMy Feed, My Way\u201d reforms, which would give users greater control over the algorithms to determine what appears in their social media feeds.<\/p>\n

So there was Albanese, inside Apple\u2019s perfectly manicured technological utopia, making the case for putting some boundaries around the machines. All while thanking them for all that they do.<\/p>\n

Then, naturally, it was time to leave via the merchandise store. Mugs, pens, notebooks and water bottles with an Apple logo. Onesies for your loved ones, and 16 T-shirts to choose from.<\/p>\n

In the movie, Truman escapes the simulation. In Cupertino, the tech giant selling the digital poison is now selling the antidote, too.<\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"RobRob Harris<\/a> is the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Canberra. He is a former Europe correspondent.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 20, 2026 \u2014 1:45pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-898633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}