All articles tagged with #online safety
An Australian court fined X Corp. for breaching online-safety rules, a ruling backed by eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, underscoring tougher enforcement of platform safety obligations in Australia.
An Australian judge has fined X AU$465,000 for an online-safety breach after a three-year court battle, underscoring ongoing enforcement of online safety rules on platforms and their moderation obligations.
Ofcom criticizes TikTok and YouTube for not keeping under-16s safe, saying their feeds still expose children to harmful content and calls for stronger protections; Snap, Roblox and Meta have agreed to anti-grooming measures, while the government weighs a possible under-16 ban as 84% of 8–12-year-olds use services with a 13+ minimum age.
A new Take It Down Act requires tech platforms to provide an accessible takedown process for nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII), with enforcement starting May 19. Major platforms have launched or updated reporting forms (some via the StopNCII tool) to identify and remove reported content within 48 hours if the request is valid. While the law aims to protect users, including teens, reporting flows vary in accessibility and clarity, and some companies delayed or mislinked forms. Experts stress the importance of easy reporting, proper documentation, and testing of these systems to ensure timely, compliant removals.
A man wearing smart glasses secretly filmed a woman in a London shopping center and later demanded money to delete the video, highlighting privacy and safety concerns as platforms remove the post and police say public filming is not necessarily illegal; the case underscores ongoing challenges around non-consensual recording and online content.
The European Parliamentary Research Service warns that VPNs are increasingly used to bypass online age-verification rules, calling it a regulatory gap as Europe tightens child-safety measures. Proposals range from requiring VPNs to verify age to privacy-preserving methods like double-blind verification, but experts caution that identity checks could weaken anonymity. The EU is considering updates to cybersecurity/online-safety laws, with parallels in the UK and Utah’s age-verification efforts and prior security flaws found in an EU verification app.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer told social media bosses at Downing Street that the current approach to protecting children online can't continue, pressing Meta, Google, TikTok, X and Snap to do more as the UK weighs Australia-style restrictions for under-16s and moves toward a new Online Safety Act; MPs recently rejected an outright ban for under-16s, while the government runs a public consultation that closes May 26. Some platforms have already introduced safeguards like disabling auto-play by default and giving parents more control over screen time.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the bloc’s digital age verification app is technically ready and will soon roll out to let users prove their age via passport, national ID, or trusted providers, with privacy protections; platforms will be held to account to protect kids online, and national versions will follow this year as the app aims to become a global standard and integrate with national digital wallet solutions.
Roblox is introducing age-specific accounts—Roblox Kids and Roblox Select—linked to an age-estimation system to tailor features and chat access. Roblox says the system improves safety and reduces grooming, but some parents report misclassifications that can weaken protections and complicate corrections. The move comes amid regulatory pressure on online safety, with Roblox emphasizing monitoring and appeals options while critics call for independent verification of safeguards.
Australia says five major social platforms aren’t fully complying with its age-law provisions, specifically citing Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for not fully enforcing child account bans, signaling ongoing regulatory pressure on platforms to curb underage access.
The White House’s AI regulatory framework is exposing deep GOP splits and House-Senate tensions, with disagreements over kids’ online safety, copyright training material, and data-center energy concerns threatening progress toward a federal AI bill this year.
An independent Roblox developer argues the platform's safety checks, including age verification, are insufficient and urges parents to monitor children on Roblox 24/7; Roblox counters that safety is a top priority with advanced safeguards and ongoing monitoring, amid broader concerns about protecting young users.
The FBI warns that criminals can hijack home Wi‑Fi networks to use the owner’s IP as a proxy for illegal activity, potentially making victims appear responsible. To defend against this, users should avoid suspicious sites and apps, skip untrustworthy free VPNs, keep devices updated, and businesses should implement network segmentation and block known residential-proxy IPs; Google is taking action to dismantle proxy rings.
The White House released a four-page national AI framework urging Congress to preempt state AI laws in favor of a single federal standard, covering AI replicas, energy demands, regulatory sandboxes, and child safety online. It’s framed as a policy position rather than a bill and highlights tensions with states and copyright debates; Democrats have introduced bills to counter the Trump-era order, while Republicans seek bipartisan action, signaling a challenging path to a final framework.
Meta’s Instagram will begin proactively notifying parents when teens using Instagram’s Teen Accounts search for suicide or self-harm terms, starting next week in the UK, US, Australia and Canada with other regions to follow; alerts may come via email, text, WhatsApp or in-app and will include resources to guide difficult conversations. It’s the first time Meta has issued proactive parent alerts for teen searches rather than simply blocking content, drawing mixed reactions: supporters say it aids protection, while critics warn it could alarm families or gloss over underlying platform risks. Meta says alerts accompany expert resources and notes it already hides self-harm content and will extend similar alerts to AI chatbot interactions in coming months amid wider scrutiny of youth safety online.