Latest news with #FOSI
Malaysian Reserve
18 hours ago
- Malaysian Reserve
Louisiana sues Roblox game platform over child safety
SAN FRANCISCO — The US state of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit accusing Roblox of facilitating the exploitation of children, prompting the online game platform to reject the claim as 'untrue' on Friday. A lawsuit filed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill contends that Silicon Valley-based Roblox facilitates distribution of child sexual abuse material and the exploitation of minors. 'Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety,' Murrill maintained in a release. The lawsuit charges Roblox with 'knowingly and intentionally' failing to implement basic safety controls to protect children. Nearly 82 million people use Roblox daily, with more than half of them being younger than 18 years of age, according to the suit. 'Any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue,' the company said Friday in a posted response to the filing. 'No system is perfect and bad actors adapt to evade detection,' the company added, stressing that it works 'continuously' to promote a safe online environment on the platform. The Roblox online gaming and creation platform was founded in 2004 and allows users to play, create and share virtual experiences. Roblox is one of the most popular online platforms for children, 'offering a vibrant world of interactive games, imaginative play, and creative self-expression,' according to the nonprofit Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). A FOSI guide available at its website 'walks parents through the basics of Roblox, the ways children commonly engage with it, and how to use built-in features like content filters, chat settings, and screen time controls' for safety. Roblox announced major safety upgrades late last year, introducing remote parental controls and restricting communication features for users under 13. US-based FOSI endorsed the changes at the time, its chief saying Roblox was taking 'significant steps toward building a safer digital environment.' — AFP
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Louisiana sues Roblox game platform over child safety
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills San Francisco, Aug 16, 2025 -The US state of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit accusing Roblox of facilitating the exploitation of children, prompting the online game platform to reject the claim as "untrue" on Friday.A lawsuit filed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill contends that Silicon Valley-based Roblox facilitates distribution of child sexual abuse material and the exploitation of minors."Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety," Murrill maintained in a lawsuit charges Roblox with "knowingly and intentionally" failing to implement basic safety controls to protect 82 million people use Roblox daily, with more than half of them being younger than 18 years of age, according to the suit."Any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue," the company said Friday in a posted response to the filing."No system is perfect and bad actors adapt to evade detection," the company added, stressing that it works "continuously" to promote a safe online environment on the Roblox online gaming and creation platform was founded in 2004 and allows users to play, create and share virtual is one of the most popular online platforms for children, "offering a vibrant world of interactive games, imaginative play, and creative self-expression," according to the nonprofit Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI).A FOSI guide available at its website "walks parents through the basics of Roblox, the ways children commonly engage with it, and how to use built-in features like content filters, chat settings, and screen time controls" for announced major safety upgrades late last year, introducing remote parental controls and restricting communication features for users under FOSI endorsed the changes at the time, its chief saying Roblox was taking "significant steps toward building a safer digital environment."
Economic Times
18 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Louisiana sues Roblox game platform over child safety
Getty Images San Francisco, Aug 16, 2025 -The US state of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit accusing Roblox of facilitating the exploitation of children, prompting the online game platform to reject the claim as "untrue" on Friday. A lawsuit filed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill contends that Silicon Valley-based Roblox facilitates distribution of child sexual abuse material and the exploitation of minors. "Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety," Murrill maintained in a release. The lawsuit charges Roblox with "knowingly and intentionally" failing to implement basic safety controls to protect 82 million people use Roblox daily, with more than half of them being younger than 18 years of age, according to the suit."Any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue," the company said Friday in a posted response to the filing."No system is perfect and bad actors adapt to evade detection," the company added, stressing that it works "continuously" to promote a safe online environment on the Roblox online gaming and creation platform was founded in 2004 and allows users to play, create and share virtual is one of the most popular online platforms for children, "offering a vibrant world of interactive games, imaginative play, and creative self-expression," according to the nonprofit Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI).A FOSI guide available at its website "walks parents through the basics of Roblox, the ways children commonly engage with it, and how to use built-in features like content filters, chat settings, and screen time controls" for announced major safety upgrades late last year, introducing remote parental controls and restricting communication features for users under FOSI endorsed the changes at the time, its chief saying Roblox was taking "significant steps toward building a safer digital environment." Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. 3 years on, Akasa's next challenge: Staying in the air against IndiGo's dominance Jane Street blow pushes Indian quants to ancient Greek idea to thrive Why are mid-cap stocks fizzling out? It's not just about Trump tariffs. As 50% US tariff looms, 6 key steps that can safeguard Indian economy End of an era: The Maggi Man who rebuilt Nestlé India bows out Stock picks of the week: 5 stocks with consistent score improvement and return potential of more than 25% in 1 year Logistics sector: Be tactical in the face of head & tailwinds; 6 logistics stocks with an upside potential of over 30% These large- and mid-cap stocks can give more than 20% return in 1 year, according to analysts
Hans India
12-07-2025
- Hans India
Parental controls over kids' tech devices is no child's play
Parenting in the digital age can be stressful and demands a lot from parents. The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) recently released its annual Online Safety Survey, which discovered that almost 50 per cent of parents surveyed aren't using parental controls to manage their children's devices. These are tools that would ostensibly help parents filter out inappropriate content or unwanted interactions on their children's devices. The FOSI authors conclude that the reason parents aren't using the tools is because they feel 'overwhelmed' and recommend parents educate themselves as a good first step toward broader use. While overwhelm is a real thing, we suggest a bigger problem with parental controls is how they are designed. This includes how little attention is given to supporting open communication between parents and children. Once a year for the past three years, we've asked the same 33 children (initially aged six to 12) what they think about content ratings, online safety, game monetization and privacy. Our team's combined expertise in communication, education, policy and game studies analysed their answers. We also asked their parents how they mediated their kids' gaming. Nearly half of them don't use parental controls either. They say parental controls don't always work as promised, offer little context about how settings affect gameplay and force binary choices that don't align with household rules or with children's maturity levels. The parents we asked said that they aren't avoiding parental controls because they feel overwhelmed by them. It's that the tools are poorly designed. Controls can create more problems: At the same time, many of the parents described themselves as highly engaged in their child's gameplay, talking with their children regularly or encouraging play in shared, supervised spaces. Several said they choose to trust their child rather than set top-down limits. Our findings align with previous research on digital parenting. In one British study, parents said that they felt some controls were valuable supplements to mediation, while other controls were poorly designed, introducing more problems than solutions. The use of parental controls doesn't necessarily translate to increased child safety. In fact, using parental controls can create a disconnect between parents and children on key safety issues. Awareness about risks: The six children whom we interviewed were not aware that their parents were using controls, and at least two children revealed they didn't even know why a parent would use parental controls in the first place. In this context, parents' efforts to protect their children had the unintended side effect of obscuring vital knowledge, leaving the children unaware of some of the key risks associated with playing online. Parental controls can remove opportunities to teach kids about safety if they aren't part of the conversation. We believe that the behind-the-scenes protections enabled by (some) parental controls can be detrimental to parent-child communication about online safety. What are the risks? How can children avoid the riskiest behaviour? What should they do when or if they've encountered danger? Meanwhile, parents aren't always familiar with the features and activities they are asked to restrict or allow. Very few parental controls contain information about how gameplay will be impacted by their settings. Many contain terms only someone familiar with the game would understand, while others are hard to navigate. All of this can lead to misinterpretations and parent-child conflicts, making the tools even harder to use. Power of communication: Open communication between parents and children on safety topics fosters trust, which increases the likelihood that kids will turn to their parents for help when something dangerous happens. It enables children to build resiliency, which in turn reduces the risk they'll be harmed by negative online encounters. Research also suggests that parent-child communication may be more effective and help avoid harm than embedded restrictions enabled by parental controls. The importance of open communication is also emphasised in the FOSI report. In households where conversations about online safety happened regularly (six times or more a year), parents and children were both more likely to view parental controls as a useful and valuable tool for online safety. This, the authors conclude, 'supports the view of online safety as a collaborative effort as opposed to a priority imposed by parents on their children.' On this point, we couldn't agree more. Families would benefit from making parental controls and safety settings a family affair. Kids and parents have a lot to learn from each other about the digital world, and reviewing these systems together can provide a much-needed opening for crucial conversations about risk, safety and what kids find meaningful about digital play. Rethinking safety tools: Let's not pretend parental controls are a panacea for child safety. Many parental controls contain serious design flaws and limitations. Very few comprehensively address the needs and concerns of either children or their parents. Now that lawmakers are starting to make parental controls a mandatory part of new child safety legislation, we urgently need to start taking a closer and more critical look at what they can and can't do. Parental controls can be a useful tool when they are designed well, applied with transparency, and provide families with ample options so they can be tailored to not only fit with but foster household rules and open communication. There's a lot of work to be done before this is the standard. And growing impetus for games and other tech companies to make it happen. (Sara M Grimes is from McGill University and Riley McNair is with the University of Toronto)
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Va.'s plan to restrict social media for minors faces pushback and calls for tighter safeguards
Teeangers using their smartphones. (Stock photo by Daniel de) As Virginia moves to limit social media access for minors under 16, a national child safety group is urging Gov. Glenn Youngkin to strengthen protections for families navigating the digital world. The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) is calling on the governor to make parental controls more accessible and user-friendly as he reviews recently passed legislation aimed at addressing the growing concerns over social media's impact on children's well-being. 'We really want families to have these conversations about how much time you should be spending on certain apps and engaging the entire family in these online discussions about your digital lives,' said Marissa Edmund, policy specialist at FOSI, a non-profit organization focused on making the internet safer for kids and their families. Edmund said FOSI applauds Virginia's efforts to prioritize children's online safety, emphasizing that policy decisions should be rooted in evidence and research. Among the group's key recommendations: integrating digital media literacy and ensuring that parents can implement uniform safety settings across all devices and apps. Youngkin has yet to indicate whether he will push for changes to the proposal. Before his departure, spokesman Christian Martinez said the governor is currently reviewing 917 bills passed by the General Assembly, noting that 'it's common that during this time, hundreds of stakeholders write letters seeking action.' Last November, Youngkin launched Reconsidering Childhood, a statewide initiative aimed at reducing excessive screen time and protecting children from social media addiction. The campaign encourages Virginians to pledge a 25% reduction in their time spent on smart devices this year. Senate Bill 854, sponsored by Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, aims to curb excessive screen time by limiting minors to one hour of social media use per service per day while giving parents the ability to adjust that cap. It also includes provisions to ensure that data collected for age verification is used solely for that purpose. A separate, stricter measure introduced by Del. Josh Thomas, D-Prince William, sought to require parental consent for minors to access 'addictive' feeds, which generate content recommendations based on user activity. That bill, however, failed in the House General Laws Communications Subcommittee. Thomas said he was concerned that social media algorithms could expose children to content they had not intentionally sought out, making parental involvement necessary. Social media companies pushed back, arguing that such regulations could reduce the relevance of content for minors while placing an unreasonable burden on parents. Some companies have pointed to existing parental control tools that already allow families to limit what children see online. VanValkenburg's current bill leaves out addictive feed restrictions, a provision that was included in a similar measure he proposed last year. Instead, it focuses on the responsibilities and prohibitions placed on social media companies, particularly it comes to verifiable parental consent and age verification. His 2024 bill never made it out of the House General Laws Subcommittee, largely due to concerns from lawmakers and technology industry representatives about how companies would comply with the law without clear guidelines or penalties. The Virginia Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) later examined the issue and found that existing age verification laws are 'ineffective' in protecting children from harmful content. A report from the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) noted that these laws often fail to uphold their intended purpose. Virginia's efforts are part of a growing national debate over online safety for minors, with more than 40 states introducing or passing laws aimed at strengthening protections on social media or adult content websites. According to the ICMEC study, 19 states now require websites that host a significant amount of mature content to verify the ages of users before granting access, while 27 states have enacted laws requiring social media companies to confirm the ages of users and adjust the online experience for minors. Some of these laws mandate verifiable parental guardian consent before a child can download an app or place restrictions on content algorithms that promote addictive engagement. ICMEC has raised concerns that such laws also create data privacy risks, forcing users to submit personal information across multiple platforms and increasing the likelihood of data breaches and misuse. The organization also cited constitutional challenges related to protected speech and described enforcement on a per-platform basis as 'infeasible.' Despite these concerns, JCOTS still recommended the proposal to the General Assembly, suggesting that lawmakers define key social media features — such as infinite scrolling and autoplay — to better understand how such policies could impact the Office of the Attorney General. VanValkenburg's latest bill has incorporated expanded definitions and includes feedback from Virginia's chief prosecutor to address some of these concerns. While the final version of the legislation is not exactly what he originally envisioned, VanValkenburg said the revised bill still accomplishes its intended goal. 'What we have now is a slightly different bill that I think gets to the same purposes, maybe not exactly like I wanted to, but I think it actually is substantive and does a good job,' VanValkenburg said during his return to the House General Laws subcommittee in February. The bill now awaits Youngkin's decision. He has until later this month to either amend or approve the legislation as written. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
