TikTok exposes children to suicide content within three minutes of joining app

  • Research from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that TikTok exposes children to suicide content within three minutes of them joining the platform.
  • They found TikTok was “bombarding” young people with self-harm, suicide and eating disorder content in their “For you” page.
  • After making two accounts posing as a 13-year-old in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, it found that potentially harmful content about mental health and body image was pushed every 39 seconds.
  • Content referencing suicide was pushed to one account within 2.6 minutes and content referencing eating disorders pushed within 8 minutes.
  • A “more vulnerable” account was created with the tag “loseweight” which was served three times more harmful content than the standard account, and 12 times more self-harm and suicide content.
  • For more on this research, go to the Telegraph’s website.

Nurses’ strike to affect services as 12-hour walkout begins

  • Nurses across Northern Ireland are joining their colleagues in England and Wales in a 12-hour strike to protest unfair pay and patient safety.
  • This will be the biggest strike action of its kind in NHS history.
  • Urgent care and emergency services will continue to be provided by staff but there will be disruption to planned surgery from 8am.
  • Trusts have spoken out and said that services including non-emergency care will be affected and outpatient appointments and community nursing has been postponed.
  • There will also be fewer nurses available on non-urgent wards.
  • For more on this, please go to the BBC News website.

LGBTQ youth group cuts would be disastrous, says Cara Friend group

  • A number of LGBTQ youth groups are facing closures due to cuts to Education Authority (EA) funding.
  • LGBTQ organisation Cara Friend which runs over 20 groups and services has described the cuts as a monumental step backwards that represents a “disastrous future.”
  • Cara Friend also runs an LGBTQ-inclusive schools programme that provides anti-bullying workshops and advice for teachers.
  • The EA have said that it would continue to work with the Department of Education to minimise the risk to these services.
  • For more on this story, please visit the BBC News website.