Teenagers Claim to Have Used TikTok to Sabotage Trump Event

  • Hundreds of Teenagers across the USA have claimed to have used TikTok to sabotage President Donald Trump’s re-election rally in Tulsa. 
  • One TikTok video from 12th June, which encouraged people to sign up for free tickets to ensure there would be empty seats at the arena, received more than 700,000 likes.
  • Donald Trump’s reelection team has rejected the claims that Tik-Tok users and K-Pop fans were behind the lower-than-expected turnout for the rally. 
  • This comes as the user base and influence of TikTok continues to expand quickly across the world.

Katie Hopkins Banned From Twitter Forever

  • Controversial rightwing commentator Katie Hopkins has been permanently banned from Twitter for violating its hateful conduct policy.
  • Twitter said, “keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us – abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our rules are broken”. 
  • The social network did not specify which tweets from Ms Hopkins had triggered the ban.
  • Twitter’s hateful conduct policy bans the promotion of violence or direct written attacks and threats on other people, based on personal characteristics such as race, gender or sexual orientation.

Man Sentenced Following Online Grooming of Child

  • A man from Lincolnshire has been sentenced after grooming a 14-year-old girl online.
  • The Offender travelled from his home in the town to Gateshead to meet the girl, after convincing her to send him intimate photos of herself online. The 38 year-old-man told the girl he was 18 years old.
  • His crimes came to light when the victim’s friend became concerned after seeing pictures of the predator- and not believing he was a teenager himself. She told a school teacher, who contacted the police and the victim’s mother.
  • The offender pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child, two cases of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and meeting a child following sexual grooming.

Charity Warns That Children Are Being Left Traumatised by Pandemic

  • A report from the Childhood Trust has warned that Children are developing serious mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress (PTSD), because of the coronavirus pandemic. 
  • Children are feeling anxious about their loved ones’ health, as well as facing social isolation and hunger. Lack of internet access is also setting disadvantaged children back. 
  • A lack of contact with safeguarding professionals has resulted in children being stuck with abusers. 
  • Laurence Guinness, chief executive of the Childhood Trust, told BBC News many children it had spoken to were experiencing “vivid nightmares” about the coronavirus and death – a possible side-effect of PTSD.
  • Experts have also warned that children of black, Asian and ethnic minority heritage are suffering much worse damage to their mental health as a result of the pandemic than their white peers.

Think Tank Finds Poorer Families Acquiring more Debt Throughout Lockdown 

  • Research from the think tank Resolution Foundation has found that lower-income households are using savings and borrowing more during the coronavirus lockdown, while richer families are saving more as eating out and trips abroad are banned.
  • The research found that lower-income households are twice as likely as richer ones to have increased their debts during the crisis.
  • “Pre-coronavirus Britain was marked by soaring wealth and damaging wealth gaps between households,” said George Bangham, an economist at the Resolution Foundation. “These wealth divides have been exposed by the crisis. While higher-income households have built up their savings, many lower-income households have run theirs down and had to turn to high-interest credit.”

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