Instagram teen accounts still show suicide content, study claims Source: BBC News

 

Research carried out by the US research centre Cybersecurity for Democracy  on behalf of child safety groups including the Molly Rose Foundation have reported that their investigations show that Instagram's tools designed to protect teenagers from harmful content are failing to stop them from seeing suicide and self-harm posts.

Researchers also said the social media platform, owned by Meta, encouraged children "to post content that received highly sexualised comments from adults".

The testing, by child safety groups and cyber researchers, found 30 out of 47 safety tools for teens on Instagram were "substantially ineffective or no longer exist".

Meta has disputed the research and its findings, saying its protections have led to teens seeing less harmful content on Instagram.

Read the full report here. 

 

 

UK to force Apple and Google to block explicit images on children’s smartphones Source: The Guardian

 

UK legislation which aims to force Apple and Google to block explicit images on children’s smartphones will be published after talks failed to produce a resolution via dialogue.

The legislation commitment puts ministers on a collision course with two of the biggest players in Silicon Valley, months after the government announced a social media ban for under-16s.

This position was reached after Apple and Google failed to reach a rsolution after a three month period and government legislation will be introduced to parliament  in the coming months.

Read the full story here. 

The internet is not safe for children, say UK police bosses Source: EuroNews

 

The UK Government's National Crime Agency Director , Graeme  Biggar  made this statement  “Our assessment is clear: the online environment in its current form is not safe for children. The industry response has been too slow, while the problem has been getting worse. Enough is enough” 

He added: “Either the tech companies must effectively stop children using those features or make them safe. If they do not, the Government should ban them for U16s.”

NPCC's ,Gavin Stephens, also pointed out in the statement that the online space at the moment had become “something of a wild west”, where both regulation and law were lagging far behind advancing technology.

One could reflect that the UK has done a lot to bring some sort of sanity to the situation through its OFCOM regulations regarding the responsibilities of the Tech companies.

All this said, the two agencies are not arguing for an outright ban on social media and internet access for young people. They hold the view that the benefits to young people outweigh the disadvantages. They want the Tech companies to increase their scrutiny of online communications and increase the level of security for children.

Read the fully story here. 

 

Experts warn of rise in sadistic online exploitation of vulnerable children Source: The Guardian

 

 

This report from The Guardian newspaper cites evidence of predators coercing children into producing sexual photos and videos of themselves have surged globally in the past year. This phenomenon is referred to “sadistic online exploitation”.

This issue has been reported previously focussed on the creation of sexual material which is then used to exploit young people who share sexual images of themselves. This practice  extends this to promoting self harming or even suicide. Other disgusting demands include forcing children to cut themselves, eat their own vomit, drink urine, die by suicide, or harm other children and pets in their homes. Some groups also engage in mass casualty planning, doxing and cyber-harassment.

With the high level of scrutiny and changes to the Law will have an effect but these perpetrators will almost certainly be looking at more devious ways to reaach their vulnerable targets.

Read the full story here.

  

Beyond Borders: U.S. and Australian Families on Online Safety, Screen Use, and the Digital Lives of Kids Source: Family Safety Online Institute (FOSI)

 

Although not UK referenced data this report from FOSI does give an insight into how children and parents view different aspects of the online world on young people. 

Not surprisingly there are some differences about how each view their experiences online and the report picks out some of these differences in the data they collected.  The data provides an insight into  Australian children’s and parent’s perceptions of online life during a time when children’s digital well-being was at the forefront of Australian public discussion – before and after the Australian social media ban took effect.

FOSI writers identified what they considered a striking difference of children reported doing most online activities listed at a significantly higher rate than parents reported for their children.

Read the full report here.