Meta calls for increased regulation of child safety online

  • Following the first ever Youth Safety and Well-Being summit, Meta has called for global cooperation between governments to create new universal requirements around key elements of child safety online.
  • These requirements will include provisions for access, detection and rules around what is and is not acceptable content, particularly in regards to social apps.
  • Meta is specifically calling for regulation to address three key elements: how to verify age, provide age-appropriate experiences and build parental controls.
  • Meta have implemented its own external Oversight Board to scrutinise its internal decisions and calls on governments to take note of this approach.
  • For more on this story, please visit the Social Media Today website.

‘Urgent need’ to understand link between teens self-diagnosing disorders and social media use

  • Experts have said there is an “urgent need” to investigate the increasing number of children and young people self-diagnosing with mental illnesses, personality disorders and neurological conditions.
  • Psychiatrists and paediatricians have said that this trend is being driven by social media and difficulty accessing healthcare.
  • Research published in Comprehensive Psychiatry described how continued social media use, especially on video-sharing platforms including TikTok is exposing young people to content containing self-described tics and other self-diagnosed disorders.
  • The authors of the paper stated there “is an urgent need for focused empirical research investigation into this concerning phenomenon that is related to the broader research and discourse examining social media influences on mental health”
  • For more on this story, please visit the Guardian’s website.

Bradley Wiggins fronts campaign to help public spot signs of child abuse

  • Bradley Wiggins fronts new NSPCC’s Listen Up, Speak Up campaign which will give people practical information on steps they can take to keep a child safe.
  • Those who take part in the campaign will receive 10-minute online training sessions and receive expert advice from 10 experts via email.
  • This campaign follows the charity’s adult helpline having a 14% increase in contacts about in-person sexual abuse over a period of 12 months.
  • The helpline was contacted 8,347 times during April 2021 to March 2022 by adults concerned about the issue.
  • For more on this story, please visit the Standard’s website.