App launched to help social media users detect fake profiles

  • A new mobile phone app called ‘Think Before You Link’ has been launched.
  • The app will help social media users detect fake profiles and speed up their removal.
  • This comes after the government said more than 10,000 people in the UK had been targeted by malicious profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook in the last year.
  • Malicious profiles often had the intention of obtaining and sharing secret information, usually targeting current and former civil servants because of their experience.
  • You can read the full story on the Guardian’s website.

Fornite’s Shared Wallet comes to PlayStation

  • PlayStation consoles will join Fortnite’s Shared Wallet system.
  • This means any funds purchased on the PS4 or PS5 can be spent on other platforms.
  • Any V-Bucks earned through the Battle Pass on Fortnite will be automatically shared between all platforms which support the Shared Wallet.
  • This leaves the Nintendo Switch as the last platform that doesn’t support the Shared Wallet.
  • You can read the full story on the Gamespot website.

Teachers sent ‘degrading’ WhatsApp messages about disabled pupils

  • A group of teachers have exchanged WhatsApp messages with ‘unprofessional, abusive and degrading’ references to disabled primary school pupils.
  • The staff at schools in Aberdeenshire have faced an internal investigation, but affected pupils were not informed.
  • Aberdeenshire Council has launched an investigation into the WhatsApp group and said it has taken ‘proportionate measures’.
  • Scotland’s Children Commissioner has said parents should be told about the incident and the content of the messages.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.

Children’s tsar orders inquiry into online porn fuelling abuse against women

  • The Children’s Commissioner is launching a major inquiry into online pornography following concerns it is fuelling sexual abuse against women.
  • They have asked officials to investigate whether hardcore web imagery ‘normalises’ aggressive sexual behaviour.
  • Dame Rachel de Souza has also spoken about hoping to prevent pornography’s widespread access to children and young people.
  • They hope to examine if there is a link between peer-on-peer sexual abuse and watching pornography.
  • You can read the full story on the Express website.

Judges given power to impose tougher sentences on sex offenders caught in stings

  • Courts in England and Wales are going to be given the power to impose tougher sentences on sex offenders caught in stings using ‘fake children’.
  • A sting is when offenders are caught after being ‘trapped’ by police or groups who pose as children online, usually offenders are inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
  • The new guidance will cover sentencing of all abusers caught via stings which usually operate online either by police forces or ‘traps’ set by informal groups.
  • New guidance from the Sentencing Council will clarify how to sentence cases considering ‘intended sexual harm’, even where there is no child victim or no sexual activity has taken place.
  • There will be a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.