‘Sextortion’ schemes targeting 2 out of every 3 teens
- Research conducted by Snap Inc, which owns Snapchat, has found about two out of every three teenagers are targeted by “sextortion” schemes.
- Sextortion is when perpetrators exchange or receive nude photos from victims over the internet, then use the images to extort them for money or more nude photos.
- The article reports that young men are disproportionately targeted for money whereas young girls are more often targets for explicit images.
- 65% of teenagers on Snapchat and other apps said they or their friends were targets of sextortion in which they were “catfished” or “hacked” for private information.
- Almost a third of the teenagers surveyed who became targets of the scams shared explicit or private images.
- For more, please go to the Fox Business website.
Google introduces new accessibility and collaboration features for classrooms
- Google have introduced new accessibility and learning features at the International Society for Technology in Education expo.
- Features include the expansion of the reading mode, pairing with a sign language interpreter in Google Meet and AI-Powered question suggestions in class.
- Google are currently accepting applications to try out the above features in English.
- For the full story, go to the Tech Crunch website.
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Council told it cannot guarantee children are not placed in care of sex offenders
- Leeds City Council has rowed back on a safeguarding pledge it made after a child abuse scandal, saying “it was legally possible to guarantee”.
- Elected councillors unanimously agreed to a ‘white paper’ in March 2023, which ensured “no child in Leeds is placed into the care of a convicted child sex offender again”.
- This was undertaken due to the findings of an independent report, detailing how ‘Ruby’ was sexually abused over many years by her guardian, despite authorities knowing he was a convicted paedophile.
- The council stated that family courts were responsible for where children in care are placed.
- Jasvinder Sanghera, publicly highlighted the council’s failure to inform the government of a serious safeguarding issue (which later transpired to be Ruby), in 2021.
- She was thanked by the councillors in the meeting through her “willingness to challenge” the authority.
- For more, please visit the Yahoo! Sports website.