Thursday 27th May 2021

People are buying nudes featuring children on OnlyFans 

  • British subscription site OnlyFans is failing to prevent underage users from selling and appearing in explicit videos, a BBC investigation has found. 
  • Under-18s have used fake identification to set up accounts, and police say a 14-year-old used a grandmother’s passport. 
  • The UK’s most senior police officer for child protection also says children are being “exploited” on the platform. 
  • OnlyFans says its age verification systems go over and above regulatory requirements. 
  • For the full story, select here. 
  • To learn more about OnlyFans, select here. 

Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure 

  • Instagram is offering its users the option to hide the number of likes they receive on posts on the app. 
  • The aim is to “depressurize people’s experience” on the platform, the social media giant said. 
  • Users with the feature enabled will now see the username of a follower who has liked the post, “and others”, instead of a number. 
  • The tool has been tested in several countries since 2019, but it is now being rolled out globally. 
  • “This has taken longer than I had hoped, but I am pretty excited about… giving people more control over the experience,” Instagram’s boss Adam Mosseri told the BBC.
  • For the full story, select here.

‘Digital Passports’ launched to help tackle online harm for children in care 

  • A ‘Digital Passport’ has today been launched to help children, young people and their carers make the most of technology and being online. 
  • The Digital Passport has been created by the UKCIS Vulnerable Users Working Group, a group of specialists working together to reduce the online risks faced by children with vulnerabilities. 
  • While children and young people with care experience enjoy connecting, gaming, learning and having fun online, research suggests they inhabit a more hostile environment and are more likely to encounter greater risks online. 
  • The same research finds children and young people in care find the freedom and opportunities that connectivity brings particularly beneficial. 
  • The Digital Passport is a communication tool for foster carers and their children, created to help them have frequent and supportive conversations, agree steps they can both take to keep children safer online and record any safeguarding or concerning incidents, as well as celebrate what they enjoy online.
  • For the full story, select here. 

County lines: 1,100 people arrested in UK crackdown 

  • A crackdown on county lines drug dealing gangs resulted in the arrest of 1,100 people and the seizure of 292 weapons. 
  • Forces across the UK boosted activity against county lines gangs in the week from 17 to 23 May. 
  • In this week there were 33 guns and 219 knives among the weapons seized and 80 drug dealing phone lines identified. 
  • County line gangs are urban drug dealers who sell to customers in more rural areas via dedicated phone lines. 
  • There are currently thought to be around 600 of these gangs operating in the UK, down from around 2,000 two years ago. 
  • They are notorious for exploiting children to work as couriers and forcing vulnerable people to let them use their homes to conceal or deal drugs. 
  • For the full story, select here. 
  • To learn more about County Lines, select here.  

 Students who alleged ‘extreme discipline and racism’ at two London schools to take concerns to MPs

  • A group of MPs will meet publicly with students from two London secondary schools following allegations of extreme discipline and racism from staff.  
  • It comes following an investigation by ITV News into methods at Hackney New School, which revealed students were referred to as “detainees” and thousands of detentions issued since the start of the school year. 
  • The headteacher at Pimlico Academy, in Westminster, also resigned last week following a race discrimination row over its uniform policy. Students had held protests at the school and sprayed buildings with graffiti accusing them of racism. 
  • In response to the incidents, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Race Equality in Education has organised an event in solidarity with students. Pupils from both schools have been invited to share their experiences. 
  • For the full story, select here.