Daily Safeguarding Update

TikTok removes millions of suspected underage accounts

TikTok removed nearly 7.3 million accounts suspected to belong to underage children in the first quarter of this year.
The video-sharing platform said the profiles accounted for fewer than 1% of global users.
Children aged 13 and over are allowed to use the platform, which is highly popular with teenagers.
This is the first time TikTok has published such figures in a Community Guidelines Enforcement Report.
It said it hoped the detail about underage users will “help the industry push forward when it comes to transparency and accountability around user safety”.
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Four of the world’s largest social networks have committed to overhauling their moderation systems to tackle the abuse of women on their platforms.
Facebook, Google, Twitter and TikTok have signed up to the pledge, led by the World Wide Web Foundation (WWWF), to fix persistent weaknesses in how they tackle online gender-based violence.
The announcement comes in the middle of a global forum for gender equality convened by UN Women in Paris.
It is supported by an open letter signed by former heads of state and global leaders such as Michelle Bachelet and Graça Machel, and celebrities including Annie Lennox, Ashley Judd, Gemma Chan and Maisie Williams, which calls on the companies to fully implement the commitments.
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The outgoing Norfolk Chief Constable has urged shareholders to hold social media firms to account to protect children from online abuse.
Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs’ Council child protection lead, said the abuse was “overwhelming”.
Mr Bailey said it was becoming easier for offenders to go undetected online due to changes in message encryption.
He was speaking at Anglia Ruskin University as he retires after 35 years’ police service.
Mr Bailey said social media firms needed to do more to protect victims of abuse.
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Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app, according to Adam Mosseri, the head of the platform.
In a video posted to his Instagram and Twitter accounts Mosseri said the company is looking to lean into entertainment and video after seeing the success of competitors like TikTok and YouTube.
He describes some upcoming changes and experiments that Instagram will be doing, including showing users recommendations for topics they’re not following and making video more immersive by offering a full-screen experience.
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Amazon is launching a child-friendly version of its Echo Dot smart speaker in the UK, several years after it was made available in the US.
The speaker – which comes with either a panda or tiger design – is billed as a learning tool, allowing children “to have fun and learn with Alexa”.
But critics said that parents should remember that it will also be collecting data on their children.
Amazon said it had imposed tight safety protocols on the device.
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To learn more about Smart Speakers, select here.