• Researchers have created an automated machine learning system – a type of artificial intelligence (Ai) – that can spot posts which are shared as part of Foreign manipulation campaigns on social media via trolls.
• According to Researchers based at the University of Princeton, such posts can be spotted by looking at clues in the timing and length of posts as well as the URLs they contain. 
• “We can use machine learning to automatically identify the content of troll postings and track an online information operation without human intervention,” said Dr Meysam Alizadeh, of Princeton University, a co-author of the research.
• This research aims to combat hostile states using trolls to target political events such as Brexit and the 2016 US election.

• A post by President Donald Trump’s official Facebook account purports to show violence in the US but is in fact a picture of the 2014 civil unrest experienced in Ukraine. 
• The advert shows one image of Mr Trump in a calm setting talking to police officers beside another photo of a security official being surrounded by protesters, saying: “Public safety vs chaos and violence”. However, the image is a photo from a pro-democracy protest in Ukraine in 2014.
• Facebook have said they won’t be taking any action against the post but gave no further comment.

• Twitter has revealed that hackers viewed private direct messages (DMs) from 36 of the accounts involved in last week’s hack.
• It has not disclosed who they belonged to although they did say one was owned by an elected official in the Netherlands. Local reports have indicated it is likely the far-right politician Geert Wilders.
• Twitter added that it does not believe any other former or current politicians had their DMs accessed.
• It is not clear how many of the accounts overlap with the 45 that tweeted a Bitcoin scam.

• The head of the biggest child protection department in the country has said they are facing a crisis when children return to school in September. 
• Matt Dunkley, Corporate Director for Children and Young People at Kent County Council, says there could be an increase of 250% in referrals of children that need to be investigated and kept safe when lockdown is eased further.
• Mr Dunkley said: “What we are looking at is a huge surge in September in children needing to be seen, families needing to be assessed, when they are at the end of their tether after six months being locked down or being out of the eye of their school”.
• Before the pandemic, councils were warning of a £3bn gap in funding for children’s services, as towards the end of last year thousands more children required protection.

• New figures show more than 40,000 calls and contacts were made to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline during the first three months of lockdown, mostly by women seeking help.
• In June, calls and contacts were nearly 80% higher than usual,  according to the charity Refuge, which runs the helpline. As restrictions ease, there is a surge in women seeking refuge places to escape their abusers, the charity says.
• The government says it prioritised help for domestic-abuse victims  during lockdown. The Home Office said it is focused on ensuring vital support services remain available.
• The Minister for Safeguarding, Victoria Atkins said “the government remains resolute in combating this vile crime”. 

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