Schoolgirl, 12, ‘took her own life after Snapchat bullying’ as tributes pour in for ‘funny, kind-hearted girl’ Source: The Sun

 

 

A 12 year old schoolgirl, Amelia Bath.  was tragically found dead n her bedroom by her mum on March 6.  Police were called and they found messages on the girl's phone which indictaed that she was being bullied on the app Snapchat.

The parents reported that there had been no signs that Ameila was concerned or worried about anything and she was laughing and joking with her family the evening before.

The police investgation is still onging but this is a prime example of where parental scruting of communications between their children and other people need to be monitored or checked regularly in an attempt to prevent such tragic outcomes.

Read the full strory here.

 

 

 

Man who groomed 14-year-old girl he met on Roblox jailed for 28 months Source: The Guardian

 

Carlo Tritta , an 18 year old when his predatory behaviour began, obsessively groomed a 14-year-old girl he met through the online gaming platform Roblox. He kept indecent images of the girl and travelled across the country from his home in Hampshire to visit her even though he had not been invited.

Such behaviour could have led to dreadful outcomes and he was sentenced to 18months in jail.

The girl's mother discovered what was heppening in August of 2025 but the grooming began in 2024 and became Tritta's obsession, causing great distress for the girl and her family.  On one occassion Tritta walked in through the back door of the girl's house in an attempt to ask her to drop the complaint, he also sent letters and attempted to contact her by phone.

The report does not state how the parent discovered the communicatios but clearly she was either monitoring her child's communications or found it following the girl sharing what was happening. 

Monitoring or checking a child's devices or devices is not snooping but an important parental responsibility to ensure children are kept safe. 

Read the full story here.

 

 

Online privacy should be treated like 'stranger danger' warnings, says UK regulator Source: GB News

 

How much private information are children sharing online. There is growing concern about how much of this data sharing is taking place with ChatBots as well as people they know and strangers online.

This news article reports on some research undertaken by the Information Commissioners Office in the UK. 

The Information Commissioner's Office uncovered that 3 in 4 parents worry their child can't make safe choices online

• Survey reveals parents' concern over children handing over private information
• Online privacy includes children’s names, real ages, and where they live
• Nearly 22% of children have been found handing over this information
• The UK Government has launched a review to ban social media for under-16s
• The Government is also running a social media ban simulation at the moment
• Australia recently became the first country to implement similar social media rules

The ICOI uses parents to treat children's online privacy as "as natural as teaching a child to cross the road" or stranger danger campaigns. The concerns relate to sharing a wide range of information such as  Their names, ages, where they live, and less obvious information such as but also less obvious information like their browsing history, purchases, photos, voice notes and social media or gaming activity." 

Read the full story here. 

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One click too many? 75% of parents fear their kids aren't making safe choices online:Source: Information Commissioners

 

The UK's Information Commissioners office have launched a campaign they call 'Switched on to privacy campaign' aimed at  helping parents of kids aged four to 11 start simple conversations about protecting their personal information online.  

Backed by stakeholders, the campaign urges parents to treat online privacy as an essential life skill - as natural as teaching a child to cross the road.  

The project follows a period of research and reflection which concluded that 
 

•  24% have shared their real name or address online, with eight and nine-year-olds most at risk.   
• 22% have shared personal information such as health details with AI tools
• 35% of parents believe their child would share personal information in exchange for game tokens or rewards. 
   

Getting children to keep their identity secure, not share passwords or devices with friends and to use passwords that are difficult to guess (pets names etc) can be difficult. They trust those that they regard as friends almost without question and childhood friendships can often be short lived.

Read the full report here. 

 

Children in UK report online sextortion attempts in record numbers Source: The Guardian

 

Children are reporting online sextortion attempts in record numbers in the UK, as campaigners urge tech companies to do more to stamp out the crime.

The Report Remove service, which allows children to flag intimate images or videos of themselves that have appeared, or could appear, online, said it received 394 reports from under-18s last year of blackmail attempts after sending sexual images to predators. The figure is 34% higher than in 2024.

The report goes on to describe the nature of sextorsion and  how increasing numbers of children are being targetted. The report also states that 98% of targetted young people are boys which might surprise some parents as girls are felt to be more vulerable to some form of online abuse.

Read the full story here.