Latest news with #OnlineSafety
Forbes
23-05-2025
- General
- Forbes
Who Does The Online Safety Act Exist For?
Who is the Online Safety Act for, exactly? In the U.K., where nearly every child over the age of 12 has a mobile phone and spends time consuming video content on YouTube and TikTok, the ideas and experiences they are exposed to matter. Yet, in focusing on the sites that host them, are we missing a trick when it comes to the broader tech ethics and real-world impacts we're seeing on not just children but society as a whole? Children's Online Safety Photo by Kateryna Hliznitsova on Unsplash With research from Ofcom showing that 59% of 13 to 17-year-olds surveyed had seen "potentially harmful content" online in the previous month, putting in place rules for websites, social media sites, and gaming platforms seems like a no-brainer. Mirrored in the U.S. by the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, platforms and organisations from Instagram to Minecraft have a duty of care in blocking, removing and remedying the impacts of what young people are exposed to. Yet, their role in protecting children's online experiences isn't the only one. Content creators and commenters, who generate everything from ideologically influential to harmful content, are also responsible for the information shared and engaged with, as well as the algorithms and forums that promote and enable it. While the idea of policing content and prohibiting free speech is a tricky one, the consequences of their role is also worth considering. While online challenges can seem innocuous, reports of young people dying as a result of their participation are increasingly common. That. And online bullying is just the tip of the iceberg. Hateful, violent and abusive material - inciting racist, homophobic and misogynistic beliefs - abounds, influencing children's perceptions and behaviours towards people with different lived experiences from their own. Netflix's much-lauded show, Adolescence, paints a harrowing picture of the real-life consequences for its victims. Yet, the impact of digital content can be internalised too. Content glorifying eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide has been too accessible, and with age restriction barriers being fairly simple to skip around, to pornography too. Here, sexual abuse and violence are normalised, deepfakes ride roughshod over the concept of consent, and cyber-flashing is made easy through ephemeral content. In the process, children's relationship to their own mental and physical wellbeing, as well as healthy, intimate relationships with others, is profoundly warped. With the technology owners purposefully embedding functionality that breeds addictive scrolling to maximise engagement (and profiting from the ad revenue it generates, creating accountable roles within organisations alongside the threat of legal and financial consequences is a start. Yet, with individuals and groups still creating content without consideration of the consequences, further legal measures beyond the Online Safety Act are required to account for the wider system at play. Until then, the onus is on caregivers and schools to navigate a digital world they didn't grow up in or learn through, and manage the current and future consequences we're only starting to understand the social ramifications of. With their lives and professions equally under strain as a result, gauging the perspectives, experiences and hopes of both the children and the adults in their lives will be fundamental to understanding and enabling an internet that enables young people to grow healthily, learn safely and thrive in society. With early efforts from Ofcom focusing on pornography sites, children will still be suffering the consequences and teachers and parents will continue to bear the brunt of the technology industry's efforts and legal system's inadequacies in ensuring young people are safeguarded from humanity's worst proclivities.
CTV News
21-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘We're seeing spikes year over year': Edmonton tech company tracking hate speech in sports
An Edmonton tech company using artificial intelligence to moderate online feeds to address hate speech is seeing a surge in sports over the past year.
BreakingNews.ie
12-05-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Emma Little-Pengelly tells of fear after receiving online death threat
The North's deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has told how she has been left living in fear after receiving a death threat. Ms Little-Pengelly told the Stormont Assembly she had received an online threat and that an individual had been prosecuted and is awaiting sentencing. Advertisement The DUP minister received support from a number of MLAs during ministerial question time as she revealed the abuse. In response to a question about ending violence against women and girls, Ms Little-Pengelly said: 'The Online Safety Act of 2023 introduced new UK-wide laws that protect both children and adults from online harm and place specific obligations on online service providers. 'We support Ofcom's call to tech companies to play their part in addressing the risk of online harm and recently met with them to discuss this important issue.' She added: 'I am pleased to have got confirmation in the last couple of weeks that a person had been successfully prosecuted under a Section 181 charge against me. Advertisement 'That was sending messages by way of online communication, conveying a threat of death or serious harm, and at the time of sending, intended the individual, which was me, would be in fear that the threat would be carried out. 'That is one of the more serious charges in that legislation. 'I am pleased there has been a successful prosecution of that and that he will be sentenced very shortly.' Alliance Party MLA Eoin Tennyson, who had asked the original question, sent his solidarity to the deputy First Minister. Advertisement Ms Little-Pengelly said: 'The member will be aware that for many years, myself, along with my colleagues, have advocated for stronger protections of women. 'We have seen in recent months threats and abuse of public representatives right across this house, men and women. 'We have raised before there is a particular issue, as recognised by a number of reports, towards women. 'In this particular incident, and I know many of us get a significant amount of abuse, but in this particular case with a specific threat of death being communicated. Advertisement 'I am glad that legislation was there. It is a good demonstration that the Online Safety Act can and will be used to successfully prosecute. We await the sentencing of that. 'I think it is incredibly important that the courts do take these matters seriously. 'This is an issue which unites all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder to say it is absolutely wrong that there is abuse, threats of violence towards any public person, never mind elected representatives just trying to do their job.' SDLP MLA Cara Hunter sent her support to the deputy First Minister (Liam McBurney/PA) She added: 'Women have a right to participate in public life without suffering abuse or threats of violence. Advertisement 'Indeed we want to actively encourage women to get into public life. 'However, we sadly do know that women in public life are subjected to sustained and serious abuse on social media.' SDLP MLA Cara Hunter, who has also been the subject of online abuse, said nobody should face any kind of threat just for doing their job. Ms Little-Pengelly said: 'I felt afraid, I continue to feel afraid in terms of looking to the future because of the actions of this individual. 'I think that is utterly wrong.'
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Emma Little-Pengelly tells of fear after receiving online death threat
Northern Ireland's deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has told how she has been left living in fear after receiving a death threat. Ms Little-Pengelly told the Stormont Assembly she had received an online threat and that an individual had been prosecuted and is awaiting sentencing. The DUP minister received support from a number of MLAs during ministerial question time as she revealed the abuse. In response to a question about ending violence against women and girls, Ms Little-Pengelly said: 'The Online Safety Act of 2023 introduced new UK-wide laws that protect both children and adults from online harm and place specific obligations on online service providers. 'We support Ofcom's call to tech companies to play their part in addressing the risk of online harm and recently met with them to discuss this important issue.' She added: 'I am pleased to have got confirmation in the last couple of weeks that a person had been successfully prosecuted under a Section 181 charge against me. 'That was sending messages by way of online communication, conveying a threat of death or serious harm, and at the time of sending, intended the individual, which was me, would be in fear that the threat would be carried out. 'That is one of the more serious charges in that legislation. 'I am pleased there has been a successful prosecution of that and that he will be sentenced very shortly.' Alliance Party MLA Eoin Tennyson, who had asked the original question, sent his solidarity to the deputy First Minister. Ms Little-Pengelly said: 'The member will be aware that for many years, myself, along with my colleagues, have advocated for stronger protections of women. 'We have seen in recent months threats and abuse of public representatives right across this house, men and women. 'We have raised before there is a particular issue, as recognised by a number of reports, towards women. 'In this particular incident, and I know many of us get a significant amount of abuse, but in this particular case with a specific threat of death being communicated. 'I am glad that legislation was there. It is a good demonstration that the Online Safety Act can and will be used to successfully prosecute. We await the sentencing of that. 'I think it is incredibly important that the courts do take these matters seriously. 'This is an issue which unites all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder to say it is absolutely wrong that there is abuse, threats of violence towards any public person, never mind elected representatives just trying to do their job.' She added: 'Women have a right to participate in public life without suffering abuse or threats of violence. 'Indeed we want to actively encourage women to get into public life. 'However, we sadly do know that women in public life are subjected to sustained and serious abuse on social media.' SDLP MLA Cara Hunter, who has also been the subject of online abuse, said nobody should face any kind of threat just for doing their job. Ms Little-Pengelly said: 'I felt afraid, I continue to feel afraid in terms of looking to the future because of the actions of this individual. 'I think that is utterly wrong.'
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Two porn sites investigated for suspected age check failings
Ofcom has launched investigations into two pornographic sites it believes may be falling foul of the UK's newly introduced child safety regulator said two companies - including one running a so-called "nudifying" service - had failed to detail how they were preventing children from accessing their announced in January that, in order to comply with the Online Safety Act, all websites on which pornographic material could be found had to introduce "robust" age-checking techniques by said the two services it was investigating did not appear to have any effective means of checking the age of found to be in breach of the Act face huge fines. The regulator said on Friday that many services had, as required, provided details of "highly effective age assurance methods" they were planning to the Online Safety Act is - and how to keep children safe onlineThey added that this "reassuringly" included some of the largest services that fall under the said a small number of services had also blocked UK users entirely to prevent children accessing them, it two companies it is investigating did not respond to its request for information or show they had plans to introduce age "nudifying" technology one of them features involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create the impression of having removed a person's clothing in an image or Children's Commissioner recently called on the government to introduce a total ban on such AI apps that could be used to create sexually explicit images of children. What changes are porn sites having to make? All websites where a user might encounter pornographic material are required to demonstrate the robustness of the measures they are taking to verify the age of could include requiring UK users to provide photo ID or running credit card could even apply to some social media platforms, Ofcom told the BBC in rules are expected to change the way many UK adults will use or encounter some digital services, such as porn sites."As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services," said Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's chief executive, in April, Discord said it would start testing face-scanning as a way to verify some users' ages in the UK and Australia. Experts said it marked "the start of a bigger shift" for platforms as lawmakers worldwide look to impose strict internet safety suggest such measures risk pushing young people to "darker corners" of the internet where there are smaller, less regulated sites hosting more violent or explicit material.
