Instagram plans to give live video users the ability to add moderators

  • Instagram may be adding the ability for users to assign moderators to live video.
  • The possible feature was leaked by a ‘reverse engineer’ who frequently explores the code of social media apps for changes.
  • Presently, only the individual streaming the video can moderate the live comments, but the update would allow a viewer to be granted moderator privileges.
  • Moderators would be able to look through comments, manage requests to go live and turn off questions.
  • According to information uncovered in the code, only one moderator would be assigned per video and only on the most up-to-date version of Instagram.
  • The code also showed the possibility for a “like button” for Instagram stories.
  • Instagram has not confirmed either feature yet or commented on the claims.
  • Full story, here.

 

Disney’s text-to-speech TikTok voices censored words like “gay” and “lesbian”

  • TikTok users have shown that Disney’s text-to-speech TikTok voice effect refused to read out the words “gay”, “lesbian” or “queer”.
  • The effect was meant to sound like Rocket the Racoon from Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • Rocket was added to TikTok as part of a Disney+ Day promotion for the streaming service.
  • TikTok’s own built-in non-Disney related voice effects that have no ties to the Disney+ promotion don’t display this issue.
  • The error with Rocket seems to have been fixed, but TikTok or Disney have not commented.
  • Prior to the fix, Rocket’s voice would skip over the words, although wouldn’t refuse the words “transgender” or “bisexual”.
  • Attempting to record text that only contained the banned words would result in an error.
  • Full story, here.

 

Violent assaults on children surge 70% at Young Offenders Institutions

  • A Prison Inspectorate report on Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution (YOI) in Kent finds that violence is “too high”.
  • The rate of violent assaults on children has surged in the past two years in a facility holding 87 children aged 15 to 18.
  • The facility’s population reduced by 40% in the last 2 years but rates of assaults on children have increased by nearly 70%.
  • The numbers of assaults and serious assaults on children was found to be higher than in similar establishments, with violence causing 49 recorded injuries in the last 12 months.
  • Children were also found to not have enough hours of education, to spend a poor amount of time outside cells and staff were found not to engage with children and lacked energy.
  • This follows mounting concerns of youth custody estates with two out of four children’s facilities in England and Wales closing and Oakhill secure training centre being issued an “urgent notification” last month.
  • Full story, here.