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October 27, 2023

 

Online Safety Bill becomes law  

  • Following years of debate, the government’s controversial Online Safety Bill has become law.
  • The Bill’s aim is to make the internet safer for children by forcing tech firms to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms.
  • The new law puts the onus on firms to protect children from some legal but harmful material with Ofcom being its designated regulator.
  • Platforms will have to show that they are committed to removing illegal content including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), promoting self-harm, terrorism and more.
  • Some are of the belief that there have been changes to the Bill which means it does not go far enough in protecting the public.
  • For more, please visit the BBC News website.

Teenagers admit assaulting black girl outside school in viral Snapchat video

  • Two teenagers who attacked a 15-year-old girl outside a school in a video that went viral have admitted to inflicting actual bodily harm.
  • Footage showed the pupil being punched, kicked and having her hair pulled while her attackers were encouraged by adult onlookers outside Thomas Knyvett College in Ashford, Surrey.
  • One defendant allegedly repeatedly called the girl a “monkey” and threatened to “rip a dreadlock” out of the girl’s head.
  • The defendant denies she was the one making the threats.
  • On Wednesday, both girls both pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
  • One defendant also pleaded guilty to assaulting a second teenage girl by beating on the same day.
  • Both defendants are to be sentenced at later dates.
  • For more, please visit the ITV News website.

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Teacher restrained boy as he said “I can’t breathe”

  • A former teacher found to have used excessive force when he broke up a fight between two pupils has stated that the incident was “effectively the end” of his career.
  • CCTV footage captured the moment the teacher picked up a pupil, moved him across a corridor and appeared to throw him against a wall.
  • The pupil was heard saying “I can’t breathe” as he was held.
  • The teacher has since left the school.
  • The Teaching Regulation (TRA) has said a prohibition order would not be “proportionate or in the public interest”.
  • The TRA panel considered his case in September, almost four years after the incident happened on 8 October 2019.
  • The former teacher told the Local Democracy Service that he had made a split-second decision to protect a colleague and a child.
  • For more, please visit the BBC News website.