Social media filters on adverts should not ‘mislead’

  • Filters should not be applied to social media adverts if they exaggerate the effect of the product, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled
  • The ASA was responding to the #filterdrop campaign that called for it to be compulsory for influencers to state when they use a beauty filter to promote skincare or cosmetics
  • Sasha Pallari, who started the campaign, said she was “over the moon”
  • The ASA said filtered beauty content could be “misleading”
  • Miss Pallari, 29, from Weston-super-Mare, said she started #filterdrop in July 2020 in the hope of seeing “more real skin” on Instagram
  • The use of filters on social media is a widely debated issue, attracting the attention of not only celebrities and social media influencers but also MPs
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Bebo chief plans to take on Twitter and Facebook

  • Bebo’s co-founder plans to relaunch the social network with a focus on profiles and “real-time” interactions between friends rather than the news feed at the core of Twitter and Facebook
  • Michael Birch says his aim is to provide a “refreshing break” from the misinformation spread elsewhere
  • Bebo – an acronym for “blog early, blog often” – was once the most popular network in the UK, as well as being big in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and at its peak, had more than 40 million members
  • In 2008 Mr Birch and his wife Xochi sold the site to AOL for $850m (£623m).
  • They later bought it back for $1m and tried to revamp it in several ways, most recently as an e-sports streaming service
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Bishop of Lincoln returns to role after 20 month suspension 

  • The Bishop of Lincoln is to return to his ministry following his suspension 20 months ago over his handling of a safeguarding matter
  • The Right Reverend Christopher Lowson was suspended in May 2019 by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
  • It came after a police investigation into the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults in the Diocese of Lincoln
  • Bishop  Lowson has accepted a penalty for misconduct in relation to the management of one safeguarding issue
  • He  said: “I offer an unreserved apology for my error of judgement in the way I handled a disclosure about a member of the clergy in the Lincoln diocese in early 2019”
  • The diocese was the subject  of a previous police investigation into child sexual abuse during operation Redstone after  the names of 53 clergy and staff were given to the police in 2015 over allegations of abuse
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Covid: Scottish schools to start phased return this month

  • Scotland’s youngest pupils are likely to return to the classroom full time from 22 February as schools start a phased reopening.
  • The move will include all pupils in P1-P3 as well as pre-school children.
  • There will also be a part-time return, but on a very limited basis, for senior secondary pupils to allow them to complete work for national qualifications.
  • A final decision will be taken on the partial reopening in a fortnight.
  • Further details of the next phase of the gradual return to schools will also be set out at that point, alongside a timescale for the return of in-person learning for colleges and universities.
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