Your commercial news round-up: social media use, SpaceX, subscription traps, office space

Ellie Nicholl (she/her) is senior content and engagement coordinator at LawCareers.Net

Reading time: three minutes

Have you been keeping track of the commercial news? Social media use is changing, with fewer adults posting regularly, and SpaceX has announced plans to go public. Meanwhile, new laws will make cancelling subscriptions easier, saving consumers money, and the London Property Alliance has warned that lack of office space in the City could be a stumbling block as the capital receives more investment.

• Social media users are becoming less active, with only 49% of adult social media users posting or commenting in 2025, compared to 61% in 2024, according to new research from regulator Ofcom. The regulator said the change was driven by platforms’ move towards video-first content, alongside growing concerns that older posts could harm career prospects. The proportion of adults worried about posts causing problems in the future has risen from 43% to 49%. However, the survey, which included responses from 7,500 people over-16 years old across the UK, found that 89% of respondents still use at least one form of social media. While the majority of people still feel that the benefits of social media outweigh the risks (59%), this is a drop from 72% in 2024. In addition, fewer social media users believe the apps are good for mental health (36%, down from 42%). The findings come amid broader efforts to protect users online, including news last week that iPhone users will be required to confirm they’re aged 18 or older to access all Apple services.
   
• Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the US stock market, according to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. The company could seek a valuation of more than $1.75 trillion. The public will be able to view the listing once it’s been reviewed by regulators, with the IPO expected to take place as early as June 2026. OpenAI, a rival of Musk, and fellow AI firm Anthropic are also expected to go public later this year. On Tuesday 1 April, OpenAI announced it’d closed a funding round of $122 billion.
   
• New laws, expected to come in to force in spring 2027, will make it easier to cancel subscriptions and get refunds for unwanted auto-renewals. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said “subscription traps” cost the average person nearly £170 annually. Under the new laws, companies will have to provide clear, upfront information to prevent consumers from being automatically moved onto expensive contracts, and customers will also get a 14-day cooling-off period once a free trial ends. The DBT said the changes could save the public a total of £400 million a year. Head of consumer rights policy at consumer champion Which?, Sue Davies, commented: “These new rules will help put consumers in the driving seat with proper transparency and protection.”
   
• Developers in London have called on the government to introduce emergency measures to counteract the lack of available office space in the city. London Property Alliance (LPA), the capital’s largest property developer and investor, has urged the government to designate office spaces as ‘critical economic infrastructure’. London topped the LPA’s ranking of best destinations for direct foreign investment, beating New York, Paris and Hong Kong. However, Central London has lost 14 million square feet of office space since 2018 and the LPA has warned that the city  may be unable to support this investment. Areas like Westminster and the West End are particularly impacted. In the West End, the average vacancy rate fell to 0.8%, far below the 7% average across the rest of the city, and rents rose by more than 15% in 2025.
  
  The LPA highlighted that 147 million square feet of “secondary” office space is available and just needs to be upgraded to meet occupier standards, which could create as much as £84 billion in economic output and £11 billion in rental income.LPA’s CEO Charles Begley said, “London’s position as the world’s leading destination for international investment is a remarkable strength” but stressed that it’s “in danger of winning the race for investment and then failing to provide the commercial space required for growth”.

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