Daily Safeguarding Update

Pandemic Linked Issues Keeping 5% of Students at Home

Around one in 20 children in England are out of school due to issues linked to the pandemic and lockdown, the Children’s Commissioner has suggested
Anne Longfield stressed the number of schools that have sent pupils home due to a Covid-19 case was very small
There were many others, she said, with special needs or emotional problems, who had not yet returned from lockdown
But getting COVID tests to schools quickly was a test the government could not afford to fail, she added
Some eight million children attend England’s schools and colleges, so 5% is about 400,000 pupils
Ms. Longfield told BBC News that the number of children back in school was good, thanks to the heroic efforts of teachers and school staff

A judge has blocked a US government attempt to ban the Chinese messaging and payments app, WeChat
US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said the ban raised serious questions related to the constitution’s first amendment, guaranteeing free speech
The Department of Commerce had announced a bar on WeChat appearing in US app stores from Sunday, effectively shutting it down
The Trump administration has alleged it threatens national security, claiming the app could pass user data to the Chinese government
Both WeChat and China have strongly denied the claim. Tencent, the conglomerate that owns WeChat, had previously described the US ban as “unfortunate”

Selena Gomez has shared a private message she sent to Facebook executives
Gomez called on executives to do more to stop the alleged spread of hate and misinformation on the site
“We have a serious problem,” Gomez began, adding: “Facebook and Instagram are being used to spread hate, misinformation, racism, and bigotry”
It comes as a number of other high-profile figures including Kim Kardashian, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Ruffalo, Dwyane Wade and Katy Perry have blocked out their social media activities in recent weeks to promote #StopHateforProfit

A man named Josh Steen is searching for answers from Facebook after his friend died from suicide whilst live streaming
“For the last two and a half weeks Ronnie’s image has been one of the most recognizable on the internet and yet these companies claim to have detection software to stop it, so something isn’t right,” he said
He reported it to Facebook during the Livestream, at 22:00 Mississippi time – two hours after the video had started, and half an hour before Ronnie killed himself
Josh Steen said the social network had an opportunity to stop the stream when Ronnie misfired his gun before 22:00 – which he says is a clear violation of the guidelines