The health impacts of TikTok need studied

  • The health impacts of TikTok need studied according to researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
  • Despite TikTok’s popularity and large user base, there is little research into the effects of the platform on its younger users’ health.
  • Marco Zenone, a health policy researcher, believes that it is urgent for researchers to start figuring out if TikTok has similar issues to other platforms.
  • Proposed research agendas include the mental health of teenage girls, the failure to slow conspiracy theories, alcohol use on the platform and more.
  • Full story, here.

 

US facial recognition firm faces £27m UK fine for ‘serious breaches’  

  • Clearview AI may have gathered data without people’s knowledge, says Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
  • Clearview AI describes itself as the “world’s largest facial network” with a database of over 10 billion images harvested from the internet.
  • The company allegedly collected data from people in the UK without their knowledge from public information, like social media.
  • This technology had been offered on a ‘free trial basis’ to UK law enforcement agencies.
  • The ICO findings show that Clearview broke data protection law by failing to process data from people in the UK in a “fair manner”.
  • The company lacked the processes to stop data being retained indefinitely and no reason to collect the information in the first place.
  • Full story, here.

 

New research shows scale of child abuse in sport

  • World Athletics has partnered with a group of university sports partners to produce the study ‘Child Abuse in Sport: European Statistics.’
  • The study investigated a range of issues that can be potentially harmful for young athletes, including verbal harassment, physical violence, sexual abuse, and neglect.
  • Key findings were collected from over 10,0000 adults, including in the UK.
  • 65% reported experiencing psychological violence and 44% experienced physical violence as children.
  • Read the report, here.
  • Full story and key findings, here.

 

New research exploring young people’s attitudes towards sex education in England

  • The Department for Education (DfE) has published a research brief exploring young people’s experiences of and attitudes towards the relationships and sex education they received in school.
  • Key findings conclude that young people who did not receive RSE in school were more likely to have intercourse before the legal age of consent, have unprotected sex or contract a sexually transmitted infection.
  • Furthermore, young people who were taught about consent, LGBT relationships and relationships in general were more likely to describe the RSE they received as useful than those who weren’t taught about these topics.
  • Read the full report, here.