UK wants to restrict freedom of internet trolls

  • The UK government has announced more additions to the Online Safety Bill – with proposed measures to protect users from anonymous trolling.
  • The new measure would require tech companies to give users the option to block people who have not verified their identity.
  • Users should be able to verify their identity and to control who can interact with them online – such as having an option to limit messages and replies from unverified users.
  • You can read the full story on Tech Crunch’s website.

Tech firms ‘need moral compass’ over metaverse child safety

  • The Children’s Commissioner for England has urged tech companies to “get a moral compass” and do more to protect children in the metaverse.
  • This follows a BBC investigation where an app allows children as young as 13 into virtual sex clubs where sex is simulated, and adults can freely interact with them.
  • Dame Rachel de Souza criticised Meta for “failing to build the metaverse with a safety by design approach”.
  • You can read the full story on The Independent’s website.

People aren’t very good at identifying deepfakes

  • A study has found that people aren’t very good at identifying deepfakes – participants were essentially playing a guessing game.
  • A deepfake is an image, video, sound, voice, or GIF which has been manipulated by a computer to superimpose someone’s face, body, or voice onto something else.
  • Participants struggled to identify AI-generated deepfakes and results showed that synthetic faces were considered more trustworthy than real human faces.
  • For more information on Deepfakes, check out our beginner’s guide.
  • You can read the full story on Input’s website.

Two-thirds of Scottish pupils have been sexually harassed at school

  • Almost two-thirds of pupils at Scottish secondary schools have experienced sexual harassment at or on their way to school.
  • 65% of 13 to 17-year-olds reported experiencing some form of visual or verbal harassment and 25% were shown an unwanted sexual message or image.
  • 34% of pupils reported experiencing personally invasive behaviour.
  • You can read the full story on The Scotsman.