News Investigation

Teen Social Media Ban Group 36 Months Sold Brands Access to UN

Dec 2025 🇦🇺 Crikey PAYWALLED — LINKED, NOT HOSTED

This Crikey investigation reports that 36 Months, while campaigning for Australia's under-16 social media law, was simultaneously pursuing commercial opportunities tied to its own success — including brand sponsorships, plans to expand internationally, and a proprietary AI tool it hoped to sell. The piece focuses on a roughly $100,000 trip to New York, where the group hosted Communications Minister Anika Wells and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese around a UN-adjacent event, and contrasts this with 36 Months' own public criticism of opponents it accused of being funded by technology companies. TechKids Foundation includes this reporting as documented scrutiny of the campaign's funding model and commercial activity, presented as journalistic findings about the organization's conduct, separate from and not a comment on the underlying case for the age-limit law itself.

~$100,000 New York trip

Crikey reports the trip, where 36 Months hosted the Prime Minister and Communications Minister around a UN-adjacent event, was valued at roughly $100,000.

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CITATION

Wilson, Cam. "Teen Social Media Ban Group 36 Months Sold Brands Access to UN." Crikey, December 9, 2025. https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/09/36-months-teen-social-media-ban-big-tech-brands/

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