Social media branded as the potential future of education  

  • Digital education company FutureLearn completed a survey that found 37% of those born between 1997 and 2015 use Instagram and 24% use Twitter to top-up education in learning.  
  • An example of this the reliance on social media for self-education on social topics such as Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ rights and climate change.
  • A generational gap exists, with only 6% of older generations doing the same.
  • This new trend is thought to extend from the COVID pandemic and how the delivery of education was completely overhauled.  
  • For full story, read here.

Facebook reports the fastest quarterly growth in five years  

  • For the first time since 2016, Facebook beat its revenue forecast and its profits doubled, despite recent criticisms that Facebook and other tech companies failed to take appropriate action against vaccine misinformation.
  • Facebook plans to keep growing with plans for a “metaverse” project involving artificial reality and plans for a potential version of Instagram for children under the age of 13. 
  • More information on how to stay safe on Facebook can be found in our safety cards (found here).  
  • Read the full story here.

Ofcom appoints online safety head to take on big tech  

  • Anna-Sophie Harling has been appointed as online safety principle for regulator Ofcom, to implement the Online Safety Bill due to come into effect later this year pending approval by Parliament.  
  • She is expected to provide strong leadership in tackling the offensive content online.  
  • Read the full story here.

Anti-Semitic violence reaches “worrying” levels in London 

  • In relation to yesterday news on Twitter’s inaction on anti-Semitic tweets, Metropolitan police reveal that violence against Jewish people in London in May were four times higher than any other month since 2018.
  • The peak coincided with the escalation of conflicts between Israel and Palestine. Further information on this can be found here.  
  • These racially motivated attacks included the slashing of tires, rocks being thrown at homes and graffitiing  
  • For full story, see here.