Young people targeted in new safety campaign via Snapchat

  • A safety campaign has been launched by Crimestoppers on Snapchat, warning young users of the dangers of purchasing and taking drugs. 
  • A mother who lost her 13-year-old son to drugs he bought via  Snapchat has welcomed the campaign, saying that the new “Fearless” campaign was a “positive” move but more still needed to be done
  • The video adverts are based on real stories reported to Crimestoppers about drug use, exploitation, and “county lines” drugs gangs
  • They also make it clear how concerns about any illegal activity can be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers

Online harms law to let regulators block Apps that don’t do enough to protect children

  • UK watchdog Ofcom is set to gain the power to block access to online services that fail to do enough to protect children and other users
  • The regulator would also be able to issue  fines to  giant tech companies of  billions of pounds and require them to publish an audit of efforts to tackle posts that are harmful but not illegal
  • The government is to include the measures in its Online Harms Bill
  • The proposed law would not introduce criminal prosecutions and won’t target online scams and other types of internet fraud
  • The law will allow Ofcom to demand tech firms take action against child abuse imagery shared via encrypted messages

Apple forces apps to display what data they use in the App Store 

  • Apps on all of Apple’s app stores will now have to show much more detail about what data they collect and what it is used for
  • From 14 December developers must show what information they gather, listed in terms of what is taken to track users and what is linked directly to them
  • The tech giant said it was not seeking to change publishers’ business models and it has included its apps in the new rule
  • Apple said it would always display this information at the top of the App section in the store because it considered it to be of greatest interest to users

Twitter serial killer gets life in Japan 

  • A man who murdered nine people after contacting them on Twitter has been sentenced to death, in a high-profile case that has shocked Japan
  • Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the “Twitter killer”, was arrested in 2017 after body parts were found in his flat
  • The 30-year-old had admitted to murdering and dismembering his victims – almost all of whom were young women he met on the social media platform
  • The serial killings triggered a debate over how suicide is discussed online
  • More than 400 people turned up to watch the verdict on Tuesday, despite the court only having 16 seats available for the public, reported local media
  • Public support for the death penalty remains high in Japan, one of the few developed nations to retain capital punishment

Bubble structures tiring for teachers according to a new report