Cyberflashing and epilepsy-trolling criminalised and punishable under new online safety act
- New offences introduced to criminalise cyberflashing and epilepsy-trolling are among those taking effect on Wednesday, with online abusers facing prosecution for such acts.
- The offences have come into effect as part of the Online Safety Act 2023.
- The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has issued new guidance to prosecutors to coincide with the new offences taking effect.
- For more, please visit the ITV News website.
Qustodio releases 5th Annual Report studying children’s digital habits, Born connected: The rise of the AI generation
- Children spent an average of 112 minutes daily on TikTok, with UK children spending 127 minutes a day.
- Children spent 8% less time on mobile games than in 2022. However, Roblox is where children spent the most time, with a global average of 130 minutes a day.
- Snapchat was the most used communication app amongst children, with a global average of 74 minutes a day.
- For more, please visit the Yahoo News website, or the Qustodio Report.
Search engines can act as one-click gateways to self-harm and suicide content
- Research carried out by Ofcom has revealed that search engines can be gateways to harmful self-injury-related web pages, images and videos.
- They found that image searches delivered the highest proportion or extreme results (50%), and individuals are six times more likely to find harmful content about self-injury when entering obscured search times.
- Under the Online Safety Act, search services must act to ensure they are ready to fulfil their requirements to minimise children encountering harmful content on their service.
- For more, please visit the Ofcom website.
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School to use sniffer dog to prevent pupils vaping
- A secondary school in Norwich, UK plans to use a sniffer dog to deter pupils from vaping.
- The school says this is a proactive step to ‘combat the negative impact of vapes and other prohibited substances.’
- Vaping is illegal for people under 18 in the UK, and the government is concerned about the rise in youth vaping.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
