Cyber Safety in the News
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.
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.
