Instagram boosts privacy and parental control on teen accounts Source: BBC News

 

 

In Spetmber of 2024  Instagram changed the way the site worked for teenagers by introducing their new “teen accounts”. These new accounts, which function to the age of 18, were initially made available to users in the UK, US , Canada and Austrailia. Children aged 13 to 15 will only be able to adjust the settings by adding a parent or guardian to their account.  See the original story here.

Research undertaken on the effectiveness of the changes towards the end of 2025 indictaed that up to 64% of safety tools are ineffective or missing.

Key Findings on Performance:

• Mixed Effectiveness: Independent testing by child safety groups found that 30 out of 47 safety tools were "substantially ineffective or no longer exist".
• Content and Contact Risks: Researchers reported that accounts still accessed harmful content, including suicide/self-harm, and were exposed to sexualized comments from adults.
• Algorithmic Issues: Studies suggest algorithms still recommend inappropriate content or accounts, contradicting safety promises.
• Parental Control Usage: While parental supervision features exist, reports indicate they are underutilized, with some parents unaware of how to leverage them  

In February 2026 Instagram announced parents using Instagram's child supervision tools would soon receive alerts if their teen repeatedly searches for suicide or self-harm related terms on the platform. Whilst this sounds a good step forward it is questionable whther it will prove effective and leaves a lot of potential dangers to still get through. Time will tell.

A more concerning  issue for parents must be that if they have to impliment this for Instagram, they will then have to set up similar protections for each product as they become available which is a daunting prospect if you add gaming into the app soup of mobile device apps.

More worrying still, is the view expressed by the UK regulator OFCOM, that a major problem is the actual' willingness of parents to intervene to keep their children safe online.  Sir Nick Clegg, speaking for META said: “One of the things we do find… is that even when we build these controls, parents don’t use them.”

Read the latest new story on this issue here. 

Two options - Help parents to impliment these controls through evidence of their effectiveness and support. Alternatively put all of their trust in governments regulating the tech industried alone. Whilst the latter will have a significant impact it ignores the key dynamic of promoting the parent child relationship to ensure that childrens online activities are monitored effectively. 

This whole argument is what inderpins the current project of  The CyberTrust's Internet Family Monitoring Project which can be found here.

 

Why fake AI videos of UK urban decline are taking over social media Source: BBC News

 

This news story is the latest example of how AI can be used to undermine democracy. If you can convince the casual news reader that things are really really bad in your country or location you can inject dissatisfaction into that community.  This is an insidious attempt to manipulate people and build up a negative view of things around them. When you are feeling that way you are easy prey to manipulation and that is the angenda here.

The BBC story refers to an AI-generated video shows a crowd of young - mostly black - men, wearing balaclavas and padded jackets, slipping down a water slide into a dirty swimming pool with litter bobbing on the surface. The caption describes the scene as a taxpayer-funded water park in Croydon. This implies that the area is in steep decline and is totally fake.

Our young people need to be able to test such stories by checking other news sources to see if the information can be confirmed as being true. Checking takes time and effort and this is what the publishers of such material bank on knowing that it might trigger rumours that will spread.

As adults we need to engage with what children are reading online and challenge the narrative that is being promoted.  This is one of the important strands of our Family Monitoring Project.

Read the full story here. 

 

UK Social Media Ban for Under-16s: Implications and Implementation Challenges Source: Bloomsbery Intelligence and Security Institute

 

The House of Lords voted 261 to 150 on 21 January 2026 to amend the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, requiring platforms to implement effective age assurance measures blocking under-16s within 12 months. This part of the process by UKG to make the decision whether new legislation will be brought into law later this year.

The report takes a deep look at the various aspects of the issue which many will already be aware of. This follows on from Austrilias decision to ban social media to under sixteen yoru olds and looks at the technical issues and challanged that such bans uncover.

An aspect that most arguements do not cover are the potemtial down sides of such legislation.

One section headed 'Digital Preparedness and the Voting Age Paradox' makes very interesting reading. The introductory paragraph reads;

"A blanket ban risks leaving young people unprepared for digital environments they will inevitably encounter. Bans will likely deprive teenagers of opportunities to develop digital literacy skills by navigating online environments gradually and with guidance. Shielding children entirely from social media can delay essential conversations about online risks while hampering their ability to build competencies early."

Such considerations are a vital part of the debate. the last thing we want is to have a large number of teenagers who lack the experience of the online world. not developed the skills of communicting online with other friends whilst they are likely to be more receptive to advice and guidanced of adult role models.

Read the full report here.

Police arresting 1,000 paedophile suspects a month across UK Source: The Guardian

 

The National Crime Agency (NCA) reports that a signiifcant rise in child sexual abuse being driven by technology and online forums. Whilst the UK laws on protecting children from accessing unsuitable material and grooming by peadofiles the report suggests that things are getting worse.

One of the major issues is that most of the changes are placed on tech companies to establish the necessary guardrails this does not mean that everything will be interecepted by their monitoring soludions.   

The NCA said the growth in offending across the UK was driven by technology and linked to the radicalisation of offenders in online forums, encouraging people to view images of child sexual abuse by reassuring them it was normal.

Most contact with children happened on mainstream social media platforms, with algorithms pushing paedophilic material to people who have shown a previous interest in it.

This one further reason that parental monitoring can add a signifcant layer of support for youg people.  

Read the full story  here.

 

 

Parents in the UAE now have a legal obligation to monitor children’s digital usage, experts say Source: The National

 

Experts have said the UAE government’s new digital safety law is a step in the right direction to better online safety for children.

The new law establishes a national Child Digital Safety Council, to be governed by the Ministry of Family, and applies to internet service providers and digital platforms, whether operating within or targeting users in the UAE.

At least one unique feature is to bring the family  or anyone responsible  for the care of children. This is the first time that parents and carers responsibilities are recognised in the legislation.

Read the full story from the UAE here.