Amazon removes Parler

  • Amazon is removing the “free speech” social network ‘Parler’ from its web hosting service for violating rules and if Parler fails to find a new web hosting service by Sunday evening, the entire network will go offline
  • Parler styles itself as an “unbiased” social media and has proved popular with people banned from Twitter
  • Amazon told Parler it had found 98 posts on the site that encouraged violence. Apple and Google have removed the app from their stores
  • For the full story, select here

Google’s new plan for collecting data investigated in UK 

  • Google’s plan to replace web browser cookies with a system that shares less data with advertisers is being investigated in the UK.
  • The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Google’s plan could have a “significant impact” on news websites and the digital advertising market.
  • It had already raised concerns that publishers’ profits could sink if they were unable to run personalised ads.
  • But Google said digital advertising practices had to “evolve”
  • For the full story, select here

Ratatouille the musical returns to TikTok 

  • The Ratatouille TikTok musical will return for an encore performance on Sunday night on TikTok; where it all started 
  • TikTok is hosting another showing of the streaming musical that debuted online New Year’s Day, which has already raised more than $1 million for The Actors Fund
  • The musical came together on TikTok over the past few months, with composers, fans, set designers, costume makrs, and choreographers creating musical numbers for the fictional “show” which is built around the 2007 Disney/Pixar animated film
  • For the full story, select here
  • To help children and young people stay safe on TikTok, use our Safety Card, available here

Number of children in school soar

  • Heads are calling for limits to the number of pupils in school during the lockdown in England, with attendance rates surging to 50% in some places
  • The two headteachers’ unions, NAHT and ASCL, say the high numbers attending could hamper the fight against the virus
  • The Department for Education has widened the categories of vulnerable and key worker pupils who can attend
  • It is insisting that schools ensure all children who qualify can attend
  • For the full story, select here