80% of TikTok users surveyed said app hindered eating disorder recovery

  • Content which promotes disordered eating and dangerous weight loss is supposedly banned on TikTok.
  • Despite this, research has found it being widely shared under code names.
  • 82% of respondents to the survey found TikTok had a negative impact on their mental health and 93% felt TikTok does not do enough to protect users.
  • You can read the full story on the ITV website.

Review finds new biometrics laws are urgently needed

  • An independent legal review has found new laws governing biometric technologies are urgently needed.
  • Biometric data refers to faces, fingerprints, voices, DNA profiles and other measurements which relate to the body.
  • The review found technologies using this data, such as live facial recognition, have rules which are fragmented, unclear and are not kept up with technology.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.

Home schooling triples in five years

  • There has been a significant rise in the number of children being educated at home in Northern Ireland over the last five years, according to Department of Education figures.
  • There had been 287 children home educated in 2017 to 2018 which has risen to 796 in 2021 to 2022, equating to an increase of 175%.
  • The true figure could be much higher as parents are not legally required to register with the Education Authority if they want to home educate their child.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.

Rise in missing at-risk children from care

  • The number of at-risk young people who have went missing from care homes is at its highest since 2018.
  • The highest number of missing at-risk young people was in the Western Health Trust.
  • The department has said that it has “well-established arrangements in place” to take action “to safeguard any child who goes missing”.
  • The PSNI has also recently expanded its ‘Make Safe’ campaign by speaking to businesses and members of the public to educate them on the signs that a child is at risk of child sexual exploitation.
  • You can read more about this on the Irish News website.