WhatsApp could disappear from UK over privacy concerns, ministers told
- The Online Safety Bill will give Ofcom the power to impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover for social networks who fail to use technology to tackle terrorism or child sexual abuse content.
- WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption and have said it is ‘technologically impossible’ to read user’s messages without breaking their promise of privacy to users.
- WhatsApp stated that if necessary, they would protect the security of their 98% non-UK users and refrain from lowering the security of their product.
- The Home Office has reassured that the Bill does not represent a ban to end-end encryption nor weaken it but instead tech companies should develop accredited technology to identify harmful content and enable a path to removal.
- For more on this story, please visit the Guardian website.
Scammers are using verified accounts on Facebook and Instagram to dupe users
- Hackers have gained access to a selection of verified accounts and are using them to pose as Meta officials and promote Facebook specific scams.
- One assumption as to how scammers are gaining access to these pages is simply paying for verification through the new Meta Verified program.
- Mashable investigated the increase of ad scammers and highlighted that most of the pages belonged to established verified accounts which have had their names changed in the last week.
- The introduction of purchasing blue checkmarks potentially expands the risk of scams.
- Twitter introduced strict anti-impersonation measures following users being able to purchase blue checkmarks after the first release of Twitter Blue.
- Meta have confirmed they have removed all identified imposter accounts they are aware of.
- It is important to be aware that if URL’s do not contain ‘facebook.com’, ‘fb.com’ or ‘meta.com’ they should be avoided.
- For more on this story please visit the Social Media Today website.
Violent porn acts occurring in sexual abuse between under-18s, report finds
- A new report from the Children’s Commissioner’s Office (CCO) has stated the average age that children first viewed pornography was 13 years old.
- Additionally, the report found that of those surveyed, 1 in 10 of the 16-21 year olds said they had watched pornography by age 9.
- 379 interview transcripts from child-on-child sexual abuse from a police force from 2012-2022, were analysed by The Children’s Commissioner’s Office (CCO).
- They found 50% of the cases included words referring to at least one specific act of sexual violence seen in pornography, including strangulation, choking, slapping or name-calling.
- The CCO also found that the factors that influenced child sexual abuse/violence, were shaped by exposure to pornography and the attitudes and behaviours of those who watched it.
- England’s children’s commissioner Rachel De Souza recommended that the online safety bill should ensure that platforms hosting pornographic content should have “robust” measures for checking age of users.
- Suggestions include checking users age via government ID.
- For more please visit The Guardian website.
