Hello and welcome back to Safeguarding Soundbites – the newest podcast on the safeguarding scene that brings you this week’s news, need-to-knows, and next steps to keeping the children and young people in your life safer online. I’m Colin Stitt, Head of Safer Schools at Ineqe Safeguarding Group.

Over the past few years, the online world has become inundated with conspiracies, fake news, and misinformation. Online spaces are full of confusing, contradictory, and controversial misinformation. The newest topic being targeted is climate change; there’s been a stark increase in climate misinformation and experts predict this will continue to increase in 2022. Please take a look at our latest article at ineqe.com to find out more.

In other news, a security breach at Facebook and Instagram this week has Meta urging users to change their passwords and disregard any emails asking them to log in. Thousands of passwords were reportedly stolen through the email phishing scheme. EA also fell victim with several FIFA Ultimate Team trader accounts being hacked through phishing.

If you’ve been on Twitter, YouTube or any social media channel at all recently, you’ve probably seen posts about NFTs – the latest trend for buying, owning and selling digital art, audio files and other online media. We’ve put together a beginner’s guide to understanding NFTs, which includes advice about how to manage the risks for the young people in your care.

And finally, do you know how much time you’re spending on mobile apps today? According to a new report, the average time we’re spending on mobile apps is 4 hours and 48 minutes every day! I hope you’re spending at least some of that topping up your online safety knowledge on our Safer Schools and suite of Safeguarding apps!

Thanks for listening. We love to hear your feedback, so please get in touch via our website, email or social media. Have a great week! Stay safe.