Meta taskforce to combat trade of child sex abuse materials after damning report
- The Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) have issued a report detailing a web of social media accounts which appear to be operated by young people, advertising self-generated child sexual abuse material (SG-CSAM).
- The SIO report followed a tip from the Wall Street Journal.
- In response, Meta has set up a taskforce to investigate claims that Instagram is hosting the distribution and sale of SG-CSAM, with the platform’s algorithms helping advertise the illegal content.
- The SIO reported that Instagram has allowed users to search for terms that its own algorithms know could be linked to SG-SCAM.
- Users would see pop-up screen warning that results “may contain images of child sexual abuse” the screen gives users the option to “see results anyway”.
- After being contacted by the Journal, Instagram has since removed the option for users to view this content.
- The report noted that SG-CSAM can overlap with non-consensual intimate imagery or be generated through coercion.
- For more, please visit the Guardian’s website.
14-year-old boy died after ‘school bullies put him in a chokehold’, family claims
- A 14-year-old boy in Scotland, Hamdan has died at a school in Scotland on Tuesday this week.
- Sources with knowledge of the investigation have reported that it appeared the boy died in a “tragic accident”.
- However, a grieving family member has claimed the boy died after being put in a “chokehold” by bullies.
- Several parents, some of whom said their children were witnesses have claimed that Hamdan died after taking part in a game called “tap out”, which involves the restriction of air supply until they almost pass out.
- Hamdan is said to have suffered a seizure, causing pupils to alert teachers who then phoned 999.
- The relative concerned stated that Hamdan was “being bullied for being different” and that the boy bullying him “put him in a chokehold and wouldn’t let go.”
- Official sources have said that “the police are not treating it as a criminal case” and state it could have been a “silly game gone wrong”.
- For more, please visit the Telegraph website.
Parents offer to pay for school kitchen repairs
- Parents have offered to pay for repairs to a kitchen in a County Down school so it can serve hot meals again.
- The head of Killinchy Primary Chris Currie told parents that the Education Authority (EA) “has no budget” to fix a water pump in the kitchen.
- In his message to parents, he said that hot school meals that parents pay for would not be available from Thursday.
- Children who are entitled to free school meals will be provided with a packed lunch.
- The EA has informed the school that the issue is easily resolved but there is no budget to order the part needed.
- For more, please visit the BBC News website.
