Rise of AI images ‘reducing trust’ in what people see online, charity warns
- Full Fact reported that the increase in misleading images circulating online, and being shared by thousands, highlights how many people struggle to spot these images.
- The organisation has expressed concerns surrounding the adequacy of the Online Safety Act in combatting harmful misinformation on the internet, including AI-generated content.
- The charity has called on the Government to increase media literacy funding to teach the public to better identify fake content.
- It also says the volume of manipulated content could have an impact on the availability of good information online by flooding search results.
- A Government spokesperson said: “We recognise the threat digitally manipulated content can pose, which is why we have ensured the Act, among the first of its kind anywhere in the world, is future proofed for issues like this. Under our new law, platforms will be required to swiftly remove manipulated content when it is illegal or breaches their terms of service – including user-generated content using AI. Failure to comply with these duties under the Act will incur severe fines.”
- They stated that the government is “investing to support projects developing media literacy skills, including several projects specifically designed to build resilience to false information.”
- For more, please visit the Yahoo News website.
NPCC warns Meta’s roll-out of end-to-end-encryption ‘putting safety of children at risk’
- Meta has announced that end-to-end encryption will now be present by default in Messenger and Facebook.
- The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)says Facebook has a “hugely positive” record of working with law enforcement in the UK and worldwide to protect children from sex offenders.
- However, the NPCC says this relationship is now being put at risk, as end-to-end encryption will “blind it to these horrific crimes taking place on its platform.”
- The NPCC lead for child protection, abuse and investigation, Ian Critchley reported: “the introduction of Meta’s new end-to-end encryption (E2EE) will have a dangerous impact on child safety. Meta will no longer be able to see messages from online groomers which contain child sexual abuse material and therefore they won’t be able to refer it to the police.”
- He continued: “I am also confident that OFCOM as the regulator of the Online Safety Act will ensure that Meta are held to account for child sexual abuse material being distributed on their platforms without the required and necessary safeguards being in place that E2EE will severely reduce.”
- The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said it is “outraged” at Meta’s “catastrophic” decision to roll out end-to-end encryption, which it says will allow illegal and harmful content to spread undetected on its platforms.
- Susie Hargreaves OBE, chief executive of the IWF, said: “We are outraged Meta has chosen to prioritise the privacy of paedophiles over the safety of our children. We strongly urge other platforms not to follow this dreadful example.”
- For more, please visit the Police Professional website.
NI education: Radical changes to form part of major report
- Radical changes to special educational needs provision and a review of school leaving age are expected to form part of a major report into education.
- Education funding gaps are also to be identified when the Independent Review of Education in NI is published.
- The review was commissioned in response to commitments contained in the New Decade New Approach deal, which underpinned the restoration of the Stormont Executive in January 2020.
- It stated that the executive should “establish an external, independent review of education provision, with a focus on securing greater efficiency in delivery costs, raising standards, access to the curriculum for all pupils, and the prospects of moving towards a single education system.”
- The report will be presented to educationalists and politicians before being released to the public.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
