Mum says school failed girl who was harassed after bullies shared details
- The mother of a girl whose Snapchat details were shared online by bullies, has described the way her school treated the issue as “absolutely abysmal”.
- The 13-year-old girl received explicit texts after her Snapchat handle was shared on an adults-only forums.
- The bullies set up an account depicting her as a woman in her 20s.
- In one day, she had 80 people contacting her.
- The abuse was reported to Greater Manchester Police and the local MP, but the girl was left suffering from anxiety, insomnia and not attending school.
- Despite a letter from her GP outlining issues with her “mental health, confidence and energy”, the school refused to accept these reasons for her absence.
- The school did not offer a change of form class or timetable to help the girl transition back into school following the ordeal.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
Meta and Microsoft join new framework on responsible AI use
- Meta and Microsoft have both signed onto the Partnership on AI (PAI) Responsible Practices for Synthetic Media initiative.
- The initiative aims to establish agreement on responsible practices in the development, creation and sharing of media created through the implementation of generative AI.
- PAI will work to clarify their guidance on responsible synthetic media disclosure while addressing technical, legal and social implications of recommendations around transparency.
- Google has also published its own ‘Responsible AI Principles’.
- LinkedIn and Meta have shared their rules over the same with Meta likely reflecting much of what the new group will be aligned with.
- For more, please visit the Social Media Today website.
Instagram is rolling out its Channels feature for broadcasting messages globally
- Meta have announced it’s rolling out Instagram’s Channels features for broadcasting messages globally.
- The Channels feature was first launched in February to let creators share one-to-many messages with their fans.
- Users can go to the DM section and see “Suggested channels” and search for channels they want to join.
- Instagram says these channels are based on interests, interactions with creators and general activity on the platform.
- Meta have announced they are testing question prompts for followers along with a dedicated channels tab in the inbox.
- This is alongside testing tools for creators including a channel expiration date, and time and adding moderators.
- For more, please visit the Tech Crunch website.
Funding cuts in Northern Ireland
- Numerous different schemes have had their funding cut by the Department of Education in the 2023-2024 Stormont budget.
- This includes funding to primary schools for nurture classes which help with young people’s emotional or social needs.
- These classes are designed to help small groups of pupils receive specialist teaching and support, however, there is an overall cut for nurture provision by £1.1m.
- In addition to this a special school in Omagh, has had to cut nursery hours from 4.5 hours per day to 2.5 hours as a result of a shortfall for places in special schools.
- Other funding cuts announced this week include Young Enterprise NI.
- Young Enterprise,a charity which helps young people learn business skills, have had their £550,000 grant cut with immediate effect.
- To read more about these stories, go to the following: BBC – Funding for primary school nurture classes being cut, the BBC – Arvalee special school in Omagh cuts nursery hours due to demand and the BBC – Young Enterprise NI funding cut with immediate effect.
