Instagram sued over harm to young people’s mental health
- Meta has been accused of misleading the public about the risks of using social media and contributing to a mental health crisis among young people.
- Dozens of US states have made claims against the parent company of Instagram and Facebook. They claim that the company uses addictive features to trap users whilst concealing its harmful nature.
- The lawsuit also states that Meta collected data on children under the age of 13, going against its obligations under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
- The claim that Instagram is harmful to young peoples’ mental health has been contested by Meta.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
‘Failure to act’ on suicide website linked to 50 UK deaths
- The BBC has found that UK authorities failed to act on multiple official warnings about a website promoting suicide that has been connected to at least 50 UK deaths.
- The BBC is not naming the forum but has detailed that it is easily accessible to anyone on the open web, including children.
- The BBC’s investigation has identified multiple warnings to the government by coroners and numeral police investigations, but the forum remains active.
- Families of those deceased are demanding an inquiry.
- The government was first warned of this forum in 2019, when a young autistic girl named Callie in Scotland who struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts accessed the forum.
- She researched a new suicide method on the forum and bought materials which she later used to end her life.
- At least six coroners have written to government departments demanding action to shut the forum down.
- For more, please see the BBC News website.
Teacher ‘searched teenage porn’ on work laptop
- A former teacher at a primary school in Norwich who searched for teenage pornography on a school laptop is allowed to remain in the profession, a misconduct hearing has ruled.
- He admitted to searching an explicit term while working at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- He stated that he used a private browser on his work laptop as he had “forgotten” to use his personal device.
- A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) misconduct panel concluded that the “isolated incident” caused “no harm or risk of harm to pupils” and that banning him was “not proportionate”.
- The police found no evidence of material relating to children and the panel accepted his explanation of the categorisation of pornography.
- He no longer works at his former school.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
68,000 NI children are living in absolute poverty, report finds
- Figures in a bulletin from the Department for Communities found that 15% of children in NI are living in absolute poverty, meaning they cannot meet their basic needs.
- The report notes several initiatives undertaken by the Department for Communities, and other departments, to tackle child poverty, including affordable warmth schemes.
- Chris Quinn, Commissioner for Children and Young People said he was deeply troubled by the findings.
- He reported that households are getting poorer, with families struggling to heat their homes and children going to school hungry.
- Mr Quinn called for Stormont to be “back up and running and commit to a long overdue anti-poverty strategy”.
- For more, please visit the Belfast Telegraph website.
