62% of young gamers experience abuse online
- A study by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) shows that 62% of young gamers have experienced abuse and harassment while playing games online.
- Gamers aged 13 to 17 reported facing the most abuse and harassment in multiplayer first-person shooter and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games in the last six months.
- About 89% reported the abuse had occurred on Valorant, and 62% reported experiencing it in Rocket League.
- Approximately 43% of them reported being harassed during the gameplay itself, 39% voice chat during gameplay and 24% in secondary chat apps, such as Discord.
- Games ranked as the most hostile were Valorant (42%), Call of Duty (42%), DOTA 2 (37%), PUBG (35%), Fortnite (34%), and League of Legends (34%).
- Full story, here.
Clubhouse to let users pin links to the top of rooms
- Clubhouse is allowing people to share outside links and monetise their work on the platform.
- Clubhouse is a social audio platform where users can host ‘rooms’ about any topics and have conversation with other users online.
- The new ‘pinned links’ feature will enable moderators to place outside links at the top of a room.
- These links can direct listeners to things like a Patreon page, article, or podcast.
- Clubhouse claims that certain links won’t be allowed for security and moderation reasons, but no set list of restrictions was revealed.
- CEO Paul Davison has suggested that OnlyFans links will not be permitted because they contain pornographic content.
- Anyone can add, change, or remove a link if they’re a moderator of a room
- The feature is set to roll out on the 27th of October for iOS and Android.
- Full story, here.
Twitter’s Head of UK Public Policy says Online Safety Bill needs more clarity
Twitter’s Head of UK Public Policy says Online Safety Bill needs more clarity
- Twitter’s Head of UK Public Policy, Katy Minshall, claims that the government’s plans for social media regulation need “far more clarity”.
- The draft Online Safety Bill has failed to answer key questions such as how to define legal but harmful material.
- Under the draft Online Safety Bill, the regulator Ofcom would have the power to fine social media platforms which fail to comply with the new laws.
- Ofcom would also be given the power to block services from the UK if they present a risk of significant harm.
- Minshall claimed that clamping down on anonymous accounts would “fail to deal with the problems of online abuse” and could damage people who rely on “pseudonymity”, such as young people exploring their sexuality or victims of abuse looking online for help and support.
- Full story, here.
Ofcom orders phone networks to block foreign scam calls
- Major phone networks have agreed to automatically block almost all internet calls coming from abroad if they pretend to be from UK numbers.
- Internet-based calling, known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), has been used to make fraudulent phone calls or texts look like they are from real telephone numbers.
- Popular VoIP services include WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
- Almost 45 million people have been affected by phone scams over the summer months.
- Experts claim that the only way to fix the problem is to implement new telephone identification protocols to authenticate calls and text messages.
- Ofcom’s networks and communications group director says that phone scams require a coordinated effort from the police, government, other regulators, and industry.
- Full story, here.