Daily Safeguarding Update - Safer Schools NI

Warning over sexual content and ‘friend requests’ from strangers on Roblox

A warning by the Family Information Service in Middlesbrough has been issued about harmful sexual content and stranger friend requests on Roblox.
The concerns outline worrying accounts of children being exposed to sexual content and messages from strangers.
Reports claim that younger children are being exposed to virtual online dating (OD’ing) and exposure to sexualised content with in-game characters simulating sexual acts.
This follows our safeguarding update about harmful content on Roblox earlier this week.
Full story, here.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is criticising a Home Office-backed campaign against the rollout of ultra-secure messaging apps by social media firms.
The No Place to Hide campaign maintains that Facebook should abandon plans for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in its Messenger app.
The ICO argues that the technology strengthens children’s online safety and that a delay “leaves everyone at risk, including children”.
The ICO’s executive claims that E2EE helps keep children safe online by not allowing criminals and abusers to send harmful content or access their pictures or location.
The discussion on E2EE is “too unbalanced” to make a choice.
Full story, here.

Instagram are making changes to the Instagram feed and implementing measures to proactively limit the reach of harmful content.
This aims to prevent posts which ‘likely’ violate its rules around hate speech, bullying and the incitement of violence from spreading.
Content that could be potentially upsetting will appear lower in the Feed based on a user’s reporting history.
Instagram will consider what users are likely to report to personalise feeds.
Instagram will also be comparing captions to the captions of previously banned posts.
Full story, here.

TikTok is testing a Stories feature which would integrate TikTok Stories into the main ‘For You’ and ‘Following’ feeds in the app.
Stories creation would be implemented into the main feed, making them another content option for creators.
Stories are currently in a separate section on the left of the screen sidebar, which diverts users from the main feed.
There is no date specified for a wider release yet.
For more information on TikTok, check out our safety card.
Full story, here.

Some users on Twitter are being prompted to add an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) as a profile picture.
This would be displayed in a hexagonal format and provide a direct link to the NFTs listing on a blockchain as proof of ownership.
This is part of Twitter’s goal to integrate NFTs into the app and make it easier users to display their ownership of an NFT.
The feature is linked to each NFTs official information to ensure only the actual owner is displaying it as a profile picture.
Users with a ‘Twitter Blue’ subscription can access the feature if they own an iOS device.
To learn more about NFTs, check out our blog post.
Full story, here.

A study has found that schools are using “misleading and biased” information materials to educate pupils as young as nine about drinking.
The materials are funded by the alcohol industry and include lesson plans, factsheets, and films.
The materials are intended to deter young people from underage drinking, but they are potentially harmful.
They downplay the harms alcohol can cause and seek to “blame-shift” responsibility for problems from manufacturers on to young people.
Full story, here.

The Department of Education is to get an extra £40m from the reallocation of money across Stormont departments.
A large part of the education money is for coronavirus pandemic pressures including the cost of using substitute teachers.
The funding also includes £18.4m for special educational needs.
Finance minister, Conor Murphy MLA, claims that “If further bids to meet urgent priorities come forward from departments, further allocations can be made”.
Full story, here.