French Government Pass Law Forcing Social Media Companies to Remove Illegal Content

  • The French parliament has passed a new hate speech law which will allow for social media companies to be fined if they do not remove harmful or illegal content within 24 hours and in some cases 1 hour. 
  • Social media platforms must remove hateful comments based on people’s race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or disability and also sexual harassment after being flagged by users. 
  • Whilst being able to moderate harmful behaviour online is important some, legal experts and activists fear that this law will grant the government the ability to censor the internet for political means.

Police Discover Online Manual for Sexually Exploiting Children

  • Child abusers in Australia have developed and shared an online grooming manual that describes how to manipulate children at home and online during COVID-19. 
  • This manual has been discovered amid increased online activity by child abusers in Australia and the UK.
  • The Australian Centre for Counter Child Exploitation has seen reports of online child abuse images rise by 123% between October 2018 and March 2020

UN Warns Against Preventable Child Deaths 

  • The UN has warned that as many as 6000 children a day could die in the next 6 months due to disruption to health services as a result of COVID-19. 
  • The pandemic has brought global disruption to essential maternal and child health assistance, such as family planning and post and prenatal care.
  • Unicef UK’s Executive Director Sacha Deshmukh said “This pandemic is having far-reaching consequences for all of us, but it is undoubtedly the biggest and most urgent global crisis children have faced since the second world war,” 

Deprived areas of the UK Facing Higher Death Toll from Coronavirus

  • Research by the National Records of Scotland reveals that people living in deprived areas of Scotland are 2.3 times more likely to die from coronavirus than those living in wealthier areas. 
  • These findings come as similar studies by the ONS in England Wales also confirmed disproportionate death tolls in deprived areas.

Disruption to Mental Health Services harming Young People

  • A leading UK based mental health charity has said that 1 in 4 young people suffering with mental health disorders are no longer receiving help due to disruptions caused by COVID-19.
  • Young Minds has conducted research which highlighted how 750 out of 1,850 parents or carers were no longer receiving support for young people in their care who were suffering from mental illness.

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