Daily Safeguarding Update

Facebook: Smoking and alcohol ads ‘target Australian children’

Facebook approved adverts targeting teenage children interested in gambling, smoking and extreme weight loss, a report says.
Research by the lobby group Reset Australia created a Facebook page under the name Ozzie News Network to explore the advertising options.
It was able to create targeted ads, based on profiling by the technology giant, for as little as A$3 (£2.16).
Facebook told BBC News it reviewed each ad before and after publication.
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Children’s charity the NSPCC says calls and messages to its helpline have risen to record levels during the pandemic.
In the year to March 2021, the helpline was contacted almost 85,000 times, up 23% on the previous year.
The figures amplify fears that children who could not go to school during the lockdowns were more vulnerable to abuse and neglect, says the NSPCC.
Chief executive Sir Peter Wanless says government recovery plans must address the harm children may have faced.
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A majority of UK students think there should be a compulsory test on understanding sexual consent at the start of university, a survey suggests.
The Higher Education Policy Institute’s survey found 58% of students backed the idea of having to pass a test to show they “fully understand” consent.
Universities have faced warnings about sexual harassment on campus.
The ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website has published anonymous accounts of students facing abuse and sexual assaults.
The think tank’s survey of 1,000 students found only a quarter felt they had been adequately prepared by sex education in school to have a “comprehensive understanding of sexual consent”.
There were particular concerns about understanding consent when alcohol and drugs were involved.
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A man who used a fake online profile to dupe children into sending him graphic images of themselves may have targeted “many more”, police have said.
The offender, aged 30, tricked 10 victims in the UK and US by pretending to be a young North American man.
Detectives believe there may be more victims and have urged anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by him to come forward.
The offender, who is from Harrogate, was jailed for 10 years after he admitted 17 offences.
During a hearing at York Crown Court on Friday, he pleaded guilty to charges including causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and making indecent photographs of a child.
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An ambitious vision to put technology at the heart of global efforts to build back better from the pandemic has been signed by the world’s leading democracies.
Leaders from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and EU signed a declaration containing a series of shared principles on how to tackle the global challenge of online safety.
Measures will pressure online firms to have systems and processes in place to reduce illegal and harmful activity and prioritise the protection of children.
The principles say that any steps to improve online safety must support the values of open and democratic societies and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
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