Porn sites will be legally required to verify users’ age

  • Porn websites in the UK will be legally required to verify the age of their users under the planned Online Safety Bill.
  • The measures aim to ensure users are over 18, by checking credit cards or prompting users to confirm their age via third-party services.
  • Failure to comply could result in a fine for companies.
  • You can read the full story through the BBC.

Minecraft: Education Edition launches a new world about internet safety

  • In honour of Safer Internet Day, Minecraft: Education Edition has launched a new world called CyberSafe: Home Sweet Hmm.
  • The world is designed to help young people learn cyber safety and to help them make informed decisions.
  • Children will learn to recognise threats, build strategies to protect themselves and their information and teach them how to ask for help.
  • You can read the full story through Xbox Wire.

Facebook Messenger provides tips on avoiding unsafe interactions

  • For Safer Internet Day, Facebook Messenger has a decision tree to help users understand their options when engaging in potentially unsafe interactions.
  • Messenger is encouraging users to review their app settings and to review the ‘Sleep Mode’ setting to establish healthy boundaries.
  • You can read the full story through Social Media Today.

Teens ‘desensitised’ to violence

  • Experts warn that young people are desensitised to violence following the removal of 695 videos by the Met Police.
  • There was a spike in video removals during lockdown.
  • The videos are thought to represent “a drop in the ocean” of harmful content which normalises violence.
  • You can read the full story through iNews.

Worrying numbers of older children having energy drinks regularly

  • A report in BMJ Open found that a third of UK children – mostly young teenagers – consume at least one energy drink a week.
  • Some children consume them almost daily – with boys drinking more than girls.
  • Higher consumption is linked to poverty/deprivation, headaches, sleep problems poorer mental and physical health and worse academic performance.
  • You can read the full story through the BBC.