The UK has finally passed the Online Safety Bill. It's a wide-reaching piece of legislation that aims to improve child safety online. It threatens tech bosses who don't comply with fines and jail.
Children RSS
Snapchat has announced a range of new features to help protect teenagers that use its platform. The features help to remove inappropriate content and keep teens away from people they don't know.
Apple has acknowledged a bug in Screen Time that causes parental settings to be reset. The company has confirmed that they are working on a solution, but no specific timeline has been provided.
Twitch has introduced new content classification labels that streamers have to apply to their stream. They cover a whole range of items including violence, profanity, tobacco use, gambling, and more.
Google Play Books users in the United States can now use a feature called Reading Practice. It's aimed at children to help them develop their vocabulary and comprehension skills independently.
_medium.jpg)
Meta has been added to a lawsuit filed by a school board against tech firms which allegedly contribute to social media addiction and mental health problems among children by promoting toxic content.
With the Online Safety Bill almost through the House of Commons, social media firms have said they're concerned about the impact the bill will have on their finances as ads get seen by fewer people.
Conservative Party rebels are trying to add an amendment to the Online Safety Bill that would see senior managers at tech firms receive jail terms if they don't implement measures to protect kids.
Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons, has said the Online Safety Bill has been temporarily paused for further scrutiny. She assured colleagues that it would be back soon.
The provisional views of the UK's Information Commissioner's Office suggest TikTok has fallen short of giving adequate protection to children under data privacy laws. It could face a £27 million fine.
_medium.jpg)
Meta has announced a raft of new features for Instagram designed to make the platform safer for teenagers to use, including Take A Break. Parents will also see how long kids are on Instagram.
Vodafone has issued a warning to parents and carers about sharing too much information about your children's lives online. It also shared some tips on how you can carry on sharing, in a safer manner.
In a bid to make the internet a safer space for teenagers, Google is making changes to many of its major products. SafeSearch will be enabled by default for teens and YouTube uploads will be private.
Facebook's Instagram is working on a slew of changes to its platform that aim to protect children on its platform. This includes blocking DMs from adults to teens who don't follow them.
The Safer Internet Day campaign is marking its 18th birthday today. It provides resources for children, parents and carers, teachers and educators and more to make the internet a safer place.
Microsoft and UNICEF have announced a new version of Primero called Primero X. It will help social service workers around the world deliver better quality care to children and women.
The UK charity, Internet Watch Foundation, has reported an increase in reports of child sexual abuse content online. It said the lockdown meant more people were online and uncovering illegal content.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is investigating Instagram over the handling of children's data. If the app is found to have broken privacy laws, the regulator could issue a heavy fine.
Google and Facebook have been asked to stop behavioural advertising and the tracking of people under the age of 18. Signatories argue kids don't understand how their data is being used.
The UN ITU has warned that children are being forced online by COVID-19 at an earlier age than their parents anticipated. It said that this leaves children vulnerable to harassment and bullying.
The COVID-19 lockdown in the UK has brought the issue of digital poverty to the forefront. Many families in the country do not have access to a suitable computer or internet connection for education.
Ofcom has published a new report which shows how children were using digital devices and services in 2019. It found that more than 50% of children had a smartphone by the age of 10.
In a recently published study, researchers claim that increased screen usage by children is directly correlated with decreased white matter integrity, which plays a vital role in cognition.
O2 and the NSPCC have published new information from a study on 2,000 children in the UK and their online habits. They hope to help parents with online matters with the re-launched Net Aware site.
The UK's digital regulator, Ofcom, could gain new powers next year which will allow it to fine tech companies that fail to remove inappropriate content from their platforms that children may see.
A UK watchdog has set out new rules that firms should follow when it comes to designing online services. The rules encourage services to put children's data privacy as a top priority.
Google has announced a new AI tool that is now part of its Content Safety API. The new tool is intended to help organisations find and remove child sexual abuse materials on their platforms.
A new UK survey shows that 86% of interviewed parents do not pay any mind to age ratings for video games. Only 23% had the same to say regarding movies, which raises some interesting questions.
Facebook has launched Messenger Kids for Android. The software lets parents tightly control who their children can interact with on the app, and chats can be easily reviewed as they can't be deleted.
Google has set out five measures that it plans to roll out on YouTube in order to make the website for family-friendly. Over the course of the last year, the site has had to adapt due to controversy.
The German telecoms regulator has decided to ban some smartwatches aimed at children due to privacy and security concerns. The decision follows a report which said the watches have security flaws.
Amazon has rolled out a new tool to help you monitor what your teenage children are doing on the shopping platform. The tool lets you set spend limits and approve different attempted purchases.
The verbal war about cross-platform play between Sony and Microsoft continues. This time, Xbox head Phil Spencer has lashed out against Sony's defense for rejecting the functionality.
An upcoming update to Minecraft introduces 4K visuals and cross-play. Sony has revealed why it rejected Microsoft's offer to allow PlayStation users to play with gamers on all other platforms.
Amazon is now letting customers refund in-app purchases if the purchase was unauthorised. Refunds will be offered to users until May 28, 2018. The refund process can be done entirely online.
The withdrawal of an appeal made by Amazon with the US Federal Trade Commission potentially opens the door for parents to claim back money that their children have spent while playing games.
A German government agency is telling parents they should dispose of, or destroy, a smart toy that connects to the internet, because it's easily hackable and could be used to spy on their children.
Known as Aristotle, a new smart speaker is set to equip children with AI functionality from soothing music to foreign language tuition. Aristotle is packed with both Amazon Alexa and a local AI.
Facebook has rolled out what it calls the 'Parents Portal'. The aim of the site is to help parents protect their kids when using the social media website. It focuses on basics and best practices.
Google has announced that its child-friendly YouTube Kids app will now support the premium YouTube Red service allowing kids to watch videos ad-free, and download them for offline viewing.
