Meta Adds New Teen Safety Features Following Renewed Criticism

CNN, January 7, 2024

Meta recently announced that it is expanding its youth safety efforts by rolling out new settings for teenage Facebook and Instagram users, including content restrictions and hiding search results for terms related to self-harm and suicide. This is in an effort aimed at protecting young users. The announcement comes after Meta has faced renewed scrutiny and several company whistleblowers have raised concerns about student safety online and its impact on teenage users.

‘Where Is My Son?’ Scammers Using AI Put Bay Area Family Through Terrifying Ordeal

San Francisco Chronicle, January 14, 2024

Rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence mean technology is now available that requires only a few seconds of a voice sample to create a digital facsimile of a person’s voice. This kind of short voice clip could easily be gotten from social media or elsewhere online. Phone scams — with and without the use of AI — have rolled across the U.S. in recent years. This article shares the terrifying story of one family who was targeted by a scam like this. Cyber Safety Consulting wants to remind you to always be suspicious when answering phone calls from unknown numbers.

Meta Documents Show 100,000 Children Sexually Harassed Daily On Its Platforms

The Guardian, January 18, 2024

Meta estimates about 100,000 children using Facebook and Instagram receive online sexual harassment each day, including “pictures of adult genitalia”, according to internal company documents made public this month. There have long been concerns over child safety from parents whose children use Facebook and Instagram.  In a July 2020 internal Meta chat, one employee asked: “What specifically are we doing for child grooming?” According to reports, he received a response: “Somewhere between zero and negligible.” We agree that more parents need to understand the dangers their students face online, especially when using social media. Education is key!

Bill To Ban Minors From Social Media And Terminate Youths’ Accounts Passes Florida House

USA Today, January 25, 2024

The Florida House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill known as HB-1 that would ban social media for minors under the age of 16. The bill would require social media platforms to prohibit minors from creating new accounts, terminate existing accounts of those younger than 16 and use age verification for account holders, without a parental permission exemption.

Facebook’s parent company Meta is opposed to the legislation. The company argued that the bill undercut parents’ ability to make their own decisions about their kid’s social media use and raises data privacy concerns. There is a definitive correlation between teenage mental health and social media, but it remains to be seen if banning minors is the solution.

Tech Experts Warn Parents About Privacy With New iPhone ‘Journal’ App: What Parents Should Know

ABC News, January 26, 2024

Apple is giving parents more reason to talk to their kids about privacy and encrypted information on their phones. The new update released last month automatically installs a new Journal app on all iPhones. This app allows students to store private information that can be hidden from parents, too. The new Journal app works similarly to a “vault app,” which is a hidden app that stores private information, like pictures or videos. We recommend that parents routinely check the apps on their minor children’s phones for safeguarding.

White House Deplores Alarming Sexually-Explicit AI-Generated Images Of Taylor Swift, Urges Social Media Companies To Enforce Their Own Rules

Fortune, January 28, 2024

Fake, sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift have flooded X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in recent weeks, racking up millions of views and tens of thousands of reposts. In other instances, images of Swift and other celebrities have been manipulated to make it seem like they were endorsing commercial products.

X has said it is removing the images and taking action against the accounts involved in spreading them. But the controversy has inspired bipartisan calls from members of Congress for new safeguards. The White House has stated that “Social media networks also need to do more to prevent the spread of these AI images”. With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, there are likely to be more and more images like these spreading online in the future.

Teens exploited by fake nudes illustrate threat of unregulated Artificial Intelligence

Axios, November 3, 2023

A phone, a few photos, and artificial intelligence have stirred controversy and shattered the privacy of several teens at a New Jersey high school after they learned that nude images of them – created via AI – were circulated in group chats. This incident is a poignant example of the threats that come with the unregulated and expanding artificial intelligence access. This is an issue that all school districts are grappling with as the omnipresence of technology — including artificial intelligence — impacts students’ lives. Given the ease of use and access to AI, this will certainly not be the last incident of this nature reported.

A Meta engineer saw his own child face harassment on Instagram. Now, he’s testifying before Congress

AP News, November 7, 2023

“I appear before you today as a dad with firsthand experience of a child who received unwanted sexual advances on Instagram,” Arturo Béjar told a panel of U.S. senators. He is known for his expertise on curbing online harassment and used his position at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to recount his own daughter’s troubling experiences with Instagram to Mark Zuckerberg. “I can safely say that Meta’s executives knew the harm that teenagers were experiencing, that there were things that they could do that are very doable and that they chose not to do them,” Béjar told The Associated Press. This, he said, makes it clear that “we can’t trust them with our children.”

Omegle Shuts Down as Founder Acknowledges Crime on Video Chat Site

The New York Times, November 9, 2023

Omegle, the popular website and app that paired random users through video chat, has shut down after its founder acknowledged persistent criminal activity and critics said that it had become a haven for pedophilia and child sexual abuse. In the past, we have often made parents aware of the dangers associated with this site. The end of Omegle comes as lawmakers and law enforcement agencies continue to examine the role of technology and social media in the explosion of online child sex abuse in recent years.

Opinion: Schools should ban smartphones. Parents should help.

Washington Post, November 25, 2023

We hear every day from individual schools and school districts that are trying to crack down on smartphones. Some schools have  required their students to store the devices in backpacks or lockers during classes, or to place them in magnetic locking pouches. In 2024, these efforts should go even further: Impose an outright ban on bringing cellphones to school, which parents should welcome and support. In educational settings, smartphones have an almost entirely negative impact: Educators and students alike note they can fuel cyberbullying and stifle meaningful in-person interaction.

Cyber Safety: Shop smarter by avoiding online scams

ABC57 News, November 27, 2023

It is easy to feel confident thinking it would never happen to you, but the reality is that with over $2.7 billion lost in online scams just between 2021-2023, everyone is at risk of falling victim to scams. Online scams are becoming more difficult to spot as scammers use new technology to their advantage. Learning about current scams is always a great reminder as the holiday season approaches.

Nigeria hands over two suspects in sextortion case linked to suicide of Michigan high school athlete

In a rare move, two Nigerian men were extradited to the U.S. to face charges in a sexual extortion scheme that authorities say prompted the suicide last year of a 17-year-old Michigan high school student. “Here was three Nigerian men that conspired from across the planet and came into my house in the middle of night while I was sleeping, and murdered my son,” his father John DeMay told NBC News in May. In most cases, families of sextortion victims never see justice served.

Finding the right technology balance for your kids

The goal is to make sure our children are not tech illiterate, but also not tech saturated. In other words, how do we find the proper amount of exposure to technology to make sure our kids aren’t overwhelmed by it? This article gives great ideas for creating healthy technology habits in your home, and ones you can begin from an early age. One of the best habits we recommend is to designate specific areas of your home as tech-free zones, such as the dining table or children’s bedrooms.

NYC principal threatens to suspend students who follow specific Instagram accounts

A New York City principal issued an unusual threat this week: All students who follow anonymous social media accounts connected to the school community could face suspension and lose out on a recommendation letter for college or work. This is an attempt to curb many of the anonymous confession type pages that are posting “horrifying content” including “graphic and direct threats to specific children with bullying comments,” which can be the source of many student behavior issues.

Top Parental Concerns? Screen Time and Social Media

This comes as no surprise to many: As kids head back to school, many parents are worried about technology use. Specifically, the use of screen time, social media, internet safety and the effects on student’s mental health. One of the solutions mentioned is technology safety education for students and we couldn’t agree more!

Being 13: What it’s like to be a teenage girl in the digital age

If you have teenagers, this is a must read!  This article gives a great in depth feel for what it’s like to be 13 in the age of social media, as the journalist worked with 3 teenage girls for over a year’s time, studying their social media habits. The article includes links to more information about how social media affects the teenage brain, and advice to create healthy phone habits.

UK’s Online Safety Bill finally passed by parliament

In their effort to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online, Britain’s long-awaited Online Safety Bill has been agreed by parliament and will soon become law, setting tougher standards for social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. The bill will be focused on child protection and the removal of illegal content from popular platforms. It will also be expected to prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content like pornography by enforcing age limits and age-checking measures.

So your tween wants a smartphone? Read this first

Your tween wants a smartphone very badly. And they’re giving you many reasons why. Before you hand one over to your child, make sure they are ready, as we find it is much harder to take the device away after the child has experienced it. Many industry experts agree: delay, delay, delay.

Threads Becomes Most Rapidly Downloaded App, Raising Twitter’s Ire

Instagram’s new app was downloaded more than 30 million times in 16 hours. Twitter threatened legal action against its rival. Time will tell whether Threads will become one of the social media apps that teens and tweens continue to use daily.

Evidence of social media’s harm is abundant

Social media screen time contributes to ongoing feelings of anxiety, depression, irritability, and an increase in impulsive behavior. Students who use their screens too much are often sadder and lonelier. The average time spent on a smartphone is more than seven hours a day. When we speak with parents, teachers, principals, and teens, we often hear about social media’s particular harm within the schools.

Personalized chatbot tutors will likely revolutionize traditional education and benefit students

The future is bright as AI revolutionizes education. Berkeley professor and leading AI expert Stuart Russell speculates that as technology evolves, it could revolutionize traditional education with ChatGPT-style personalized tutors. “Education is the biggest benefit that we can look for in the next few years,” Russell told the Guardian of AI’s potential impact on education. “It ought to be possible within a few years to be delivering a pretty high quality of education to every child in the world. That’s potentially transformative.”

Child predators are using Discord, a popular app among teens, for sextortion and abductions

The popular app Discord has a dark side. In hidden communities and chat rooms, adults have used the platform to groom children before abducting them, to trade child sexual exploitation material (CSAM) and to extort minors whom they trick into sending nude images. Experts have suggested that Discord’s young user base, decentralized structure, and multimedia communication tools, along with its recent growth in popularity, have made it a particularly attractive location for people looking to exploit children.

Get Phones Out of Schools Now

Experts often agree that smartphones in the classroom impede learning, stunt relationships, and lessen belonging. Many educators say they should be banned from schools. We are noticing an increase in schools making policies to ban phones during classroom use throughout the school day.

More than 2,000 families suing social media companies over kids’ mental health

More than 350 lawsuits are expected to move forward this year against TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Roblox and Meta – the parent company to Instagram and Facebook. Experts often debate whether this is a technology issue, or a parenting issue and it will be interesting to see if a precedent is set once these lawsuits are decided.