One in five child abuse images found online last year were category A
- A new report by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found that 20% of illegal images found online were of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
- It also found more than 51,000 instances of such content, which included the most severe imagery including rape, bestiality and sadism.
- The number of webpages dedicated to monetising from CSAM had more than doubled since 2020 with almost 29,000 pages identified last year.
- The IWF said it took action on more than 250,000 webpages last year, with three-quarters of them containing self-generated imagery.
- IWF use the term self-generated imagery to describe ‘where the victim is manipulated into recording their own abuse’.
- The NSPCC have said the figures are “incredibly concerning”.
- For more on this please visit the Guardian’s and the IWF website.
Snapchat sees spike in 1-star reviews as users call for the removal of ‘My AI’ feature
- Snapchat’s new AI chatbot has recently been rolling out to Snapchat’s wider community.
- Since then, the app has seen a rise in negative reviews and various complaints have been voiced on social media.
- Snapchat’s average US App Store review has declined from 3.05 to 1.67 with one-star reviews increasing from 35% to 75%.
- Many users are saying My AI should be opt-in only or that they should have the option to remove it.
- Some users are threatening to remove Snapchat entirely.
- For more on this please visit the Tech Crunch website.
The surprising impact social media trends are having on children’s reading habits
- The 2023 ‘What Kids Are Reading’ report found that the number of books children read increased by almost a quarter last year.
- They believe this may be due to social media trends such as TikTok helping shape reading habits.
- It found that pupils read 27,265,657 books in 2021-22 academic year which was a 24% increase on the previous year.
- Researchers found that social media trends such as BookTok are helping drive engagement and interest in certain books.
- The report also found that while average book difficulty increased as pupils got older, this was not in proportion to the rate that pupils should have been improving.
- Researchers found that throughout secondary school pupils were still reading books at nearly the same level of difficulty as upper primary pupils.
- For more please visit the Independent’s website.
Education cuts: No new school buildings to be started in 2023/24
- No new school buildings or extensions in Northern Ireland will be started in 2023/24 due to the education budget.
- School buildings already being constructed will still go ahead but no new projects will begin.
- Due to a stringent budget and increases in construction market prices the demands exceed the budget funding available.
- A scheme to provide devices like iPads and laptops to disadvantaged pupils is also being paused.
- For more on this story, please visit the BBC News website.
