Snapchat not removing enough under 13 children off app in the UK
- Ahead of the UK’s Online Safety Bill, Ofcom asked TikTok and Snapchat how many suspected-under 13 accounts they had removed from their platforms in the past year.
- According to this data, TikTok told Ofcom that they had blocked an average of 180,000 suspected underage accounts in UK per month.
- Whereas in the same timeframe, Snapchat disclosed that it had removed roughly 60 accounts per month.
- Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old in order to protect the safety and privacy of young children online.
- An anonymous source within Snapchat has said, “It makes no sense that Snapchat is blocking a fraction of the number of children that TikTok is.”
- For more on this story, please visit Reuters website.
TikTok ‘acting too slow’ to tackle self-harm and eating disorder content
- The NSPCC and the Molly Rose Foundation have urged TikTok to strengthen its content moderation policies surrounding suicide and eating disorder content.
- Both groups have stated that TikTok had acted too slowly following research which suggests the app’s algorithm pushes self-harm and disordered eating content to teenagers.
- The organisations wrote a letter to TikTok’s head of safety asking the app to take “meaningful action”.
- They wanted TikTok to improve moderation of suicide and eating disorder content, offer more support to user and work with experts to develop an approach to remove content.
- The letter also asked for the platform to regularly report on the steps they are taking to carry out these actions.
- For more on this story, please visit the Guardian’s website.
Heads warn parents not to back pupil protests spreading via TikTok
- A handful of schools across England and Wales have been hit by pupil protests against certain rules.
- Some of these include the banning of toilet trips during lessons and school uniform policy.
- Schools are highly concerned about the wave of copycat protests that have arisen over the past two weeks, typically sparked by videos seen on TikTok.
- Whilst parents’ views remain divided on the protests, what has shocked many is the number of parents on social media applauding young people for protesting.
- Some schools have written to parents and encouraged them to have “sensible conversations”, but this didn’t work.
- Schools have admitted they are focusing on preventing bullying, fighting, drug selling and vaping with toilets being a common place for this activity to take place, and staff cannot monitor it.
- Many schools expressed they understand it is important to listen to students concerns and there are better methods to do so.
- For the full story, please visit the Guardian’s website.
