Daily Safeguarding Update

TikTok launches investigation into pro-anorexia content

TikTok has launched an investigation and banned some search terms after the Guardian found harmful pro-anorexia content was still easily searchable despite measures taken by the social media company to prohibit the advertising of weight-loss products
The video app – one of the most popular in the world with more than 800 million users, almost half of whom are between the ages of 16 and 24 – has imposed new restrictions on weight-loss ads after criticism for promoting dangerous diets
But harmful accounts that promote potentially life-threatening eating disorders were still easy to find

Pornhub has made significant changes to its content policies after a New York Times report detailed the damage done by non consensual videos posted to the platform, often involving underage girls
The platform will no longer accept uploads from unidentified users
The platform will also restrict uploads to content partners and members of the platform’s Model Program, although Pornhub plans to roll out a broader verification process for regular users in 2021
Once content has been uploaded, Pornhub will block downloading content entirely, no longer allowing users to export content from the site outside of paid downloads triggered through the company’s verified system
PornHub has also pledged to increase moderation of content currently on the platform through a newly established “Red Team,” dedicated to “proactively sweeping content already uploaded for potential violations and identifying any breakdowns in the moderation process.”
The company has also pledged to publish its first transparency report in 2021, detailing the results of moderation from the previous year

An email sent by payment giant PayPal which promised customers a reward of £10 for using their account did not make it clear enough that not everyone would receive it, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled
The offer was only limited to the first 28,527 people to respond and PayPal said that it had made this clear in the terms and conditions
But the ASA said the ad must not appear in its current form again
In its defence, PayPal said that the marketing email “was designed to inform customers about the availability of the offer and included all significant qualifications and conditions”.
The email from PayPal, received on 29 September 2020, featured the greeting: “Long time no see. Here’s a £10 reward for you!”

The UK is set to issue Facebook, Google and the other tech giants sets of rules customised to each firm, and penalise them if they fail to obey
The tailored codes of conduct is part of a plan unveiled by the Competition and Markets Authority, which it says would “proactively shape the behaviour” of the companies
The watchdog wants the new unit to be able to fine tech companies up to 10% of their global turnover if they do not comply with the remedies to anti-competitive behaviour that it demands
lobbyists from the tech firms are likely to try to limit its reach