online safety

EU opens formal probe of TikTok under Digital Services Act, citing child safety, risk management and other concerns

The European Union is formally investigating TikTok’s compliance with the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission has announced. Areas the Commission is focusing on in this inves

Microsoft, X throw their weight behind KOSA, the controversial kids online safety bill

On the eve of Wednesday’s Big Tech hearing (both Big Tech and a big hearing — five CEOs are testifying as we speak), Microsoft stepped up to back a controversial bill that aims to protect chil

Ofcom report finds 1 in 5 harmful content search results were ‘one-click gateways’ to more toxicity

Move over, TikTok, Ofcom, the U.K. regulator enforcing the now official Online Safety Act, is gearing up to size up an even bigger target: search engines like Google and Bing and the role that they p

Instagram’s new ‘nighttime nudges’ aim to reduce teens’ time on the app

Instagram is introducing new nighttime nudges for teen accounts to limit their time on the app, the company announced on Thursday. The new nighttime nudges will appear when teens have spent more than

Google lobbies against legally mandated age verification for minors

Google is challenging proposed laws that would require online services to implement age checks in a new framework that theorizes how technology companies should approach children’s safety onlin

Roblox faces a new class action lawsuit alleging it facilitates child gambling

In a new class action lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California this week, two parents accuse Roblox of illegally facilitating child gambling. While gambling is not allowed on the platform,

The surgeon general’s advisory on risks of youth social media use could shift the conversation

A new public health warning this week from the U.S. surgeon general explores concerns that social media use among children and teens poses serious risks that science has only just begun to understand.

Tinder and other Match dating apps will offer in-app tips on avoiding romance scams

Match Group, the parent company to dating apps Tinder, Hinge, Match, Plenty of Fish, Meetic and OurTime, among others, announced today the launch of a new campaign that will introduce in-app messages

UK’s Ofcom says one-third of under-18s lie about their age on social media

Companies like Instagram are getting heavily fined (and dragged through the publicity coals) over how they have mishandled children’s privacy on their platforms. But if a recent report from Ofco

Social media a factor in death of UK schoolgirl, inquest finds

The inquest into the death of British schoolgirl, Molly Russell, has concluded that social media was a factor in her demise, the BBC reports. The 14-year-old had viewed thousands of pieces of content

UK to change Online Safety Bill limits on ‘legal but harmful’ content for adults

Changes are incoming to draft online safety legislation in the U.K. which continues to attract controversy over the impact on free speech. The draft Online Safety Bill has already been years in the ma

OnlyFans’s Ami Gan and Keily Blair join us at Disrupt for a SFW fireside chat

It’s been a tumultuous year for OnlyFans, the popular subscription-based social media platform best known for hosting explicit content and offering an online safe haven to the sex workers who create

Twitch builds toward a ‘layered’ safety approach with new moderator tools

Moderating an online community is hard, often thankless work — and it’s even harder when it happens in a silo. On Twitch, interconnected channels already informally share information on users

Meta adds voice controls for Horizon Worlds, which defaults to live chat with strangers

Meta might soon want everyone to hop into its playful virtual realms, but some users are set up for a shock. In the service of pushing people to socialize in Horizon Worlds, the virtual social network

Social media giants are failing women, finds Ofcom

Ofcom, the U.K.’s soon-to-be social media harms watchdog under incoming online safety legislation, has warned tech platforms that they are failing to take women’s safety seriously. Publish

UK parliament invites Twitter-lovin’ Musk to talk ‘authenticating all humans’

The British parliament has invited Elon Musk to “discuss the future of Twitter” because we live in deeply wild times. If Musk agrees to speak to parliamentarians on the Digital, Culture, M

Tech CEOs to face faster criminal liability under UK online safety law

The U.K. is speeding up the application of powers that could see tech CEOs sent to prison if their businesses fail to comply with incoming safety-focused internet content legislation, the government c

UK expands Online Safety Bill to cover scam ads and eyes wider reforms

The UK government has again announced an extension to the scope of the draft Online Safety Bill — this time bringing scam ads into scope following pressure from campaigners. In parallel, it has

UK wants to squeeze freedom of reach to take on internet trolls

The UK government has announced (yet) more additions to its expansive and controversial plan to regulate online content — aka the Online Safety Bill. It says the latest package of measures to be

Google rolls out safety features across Google Fi, Google Assistant, Google One and more

Timed to coincide with Safer Internet Day, Google today introduced a handful of new product features across various apps and services, including Google Assistant, Google Fi, Google One and more, as we
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