Urgent need for TikTok age restrictions for vaping videos  

  • An Australian study has found that 63% of e-cigarette content on TikTok portrays vaping positively, with videos reaching a median of 1 million views each and a quarter featuring people who appeared under 18-years of age.  
  • Queensland University is calling for tighter regulations to prevent nicotine product promotion to underage users on the platform, even though videos depicting vaping go against TikTok’s community guidelines.  
  • This supports previous research showing that e-cigarette advertisements reduced the perceived harm of occasional smoking when shown to children. 
  • Read the full story here.

Social media feuds and rivalries over drug trade fuel rise in teen homicides  

  • Teen homicides in London are rising over feuds that are being waged on social media platforms due to drug trade rivalries, the Metropolitan Police Commander Alex Murray reports. 
  • 22 out of 75 homicides (29%) in London involved teenagers to date this year, with 11% in 2020 and 17% in 2019 
  • A disproportionate amount (16 out of 22) were black men and boys. 
  • Read the full story here.

MPs push for national register of home-educated children  

  • MP committee reprimands “the unacceptable level of opaqueness” surrounding home-schooled children. 
  • Research by the BBC indicated that children registered for home education in the UK rose by 75% in the first eight months of the current school year.  
  • More data needs to be collected to ensure education standards, including mandatory assessments of numeracy and literacy, to ensure that home-schooled children are getting the same opportunities and quality as school-educated peers. 
  • Read the full story here.

Home Office publish policy paper on violence against women and girls’ strategy 

  • This policy follows previous strategies in 2010, 2016 and 2019, propelled by the nation’s attention on cases like Sarah Everard and the increase of domestic abuse reports to helplines due to COVID restrictions.  
  • The strategy is concerned with offline and online offending, including the pilot of the tool “StreetSafe” where anonymous reporting of areas that feel unsafe and funding to be made available for services like helplines. 
  • The full report can be accessed here.