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Amy Neville describes Kristin Bride as her "soulmate." But the day that forged their bond - June 23, 2020 - was the worst of each of their lives. Both Bride and Neville lost their teen sons that day. Their kids lived a thousand miles apart and never met, but they both died from harms related to their social media use. When the two mothers met, early in their advocacy work to protect other kids, Bride said she had felt "totally alone." But they have since seen the online child safety movement blossom, with scores of other parents who lost kids pursuing stronger social media safeguards and legislation to protect children online. With that momentum, advocates say the tide seems to be turning. A pair of landmark jury verdicts this year showed a way forward for holding tech companies accountable. And while the U.S. is nowhere near embracing social media bans for children like those seen from Australia to Indonesia, a push for regulation is simmering again in Congress. "Moving forward fo
An Australian judge fined X Corp 650,000 Australian dollars (USD 465,000) on Thursday for failing to provide information to an online safety watchdog in 2023 about how it tackled child sexual exploitation content. Federal Court Justice Michael Wheelahan also ordered the Texas-based social media giant to pay AUD 100,000 (USD 71,000) of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant's court costs within 45 days. The ruling ends a three-year legal battle in which X had argued it was not obliged to answer eSafety's questions. X admitted it contravened Australia's Online Safety Act by failing to provide a report that fully answered questions posed by eSafety in a transparency notice issued on Feb. 22, 2023, the agency's lawyer Christopher Tran said. X had to provide the answers by March 29 that year. X's lawyer Perry Herzfeld told the judge eSafety did not allege that the contravening conduct continued after May 5, 2023. "That was a period of change and transition for the company," Herzfeld sa
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday asserted that digital platforms must take responsibility for the content they host, stressing that ensuring the online safety of children and citizens is their obligation. Addressing the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) Conclave here, Vaishnaw said platforms need to "wake up" and understand the importance of reinforcing trust in the institutions that human society has built over thousands of years. "Platforms must take responsibility for the content that is hosted by them. The online safety of children, the online safety of all citizens is the responsibility of the platforms," he said. The minister cautioned that non-adherence to these principles would make these platforms accountable, noting that the nature of the internet has changed now. He also underlined the need to regulate the use of AI-generated content, saying such material should not be generated without the consent of the person whose face, voice or personality is ...
In a bid to ensure sustained social stability, security officials across China have shut down 34,000 online accounts for spreading rumours and punished more than 6,300 people since the start of a crackdown campaign in April. Over 4,800 cases have been handled, with more than 6,300 people punished, Li Tong, an official with the Ministry of Public Security said. Officials across the country have shut down 34,000 online accounts for spreading rumours, Li said. To ensure social stability, the ministry has decided to carry out a yearlong crackdown on online rumours spanning 2024, Li told the media here on Friday. The campaign will employ multiple measures to make sure it is effective and delivers solid outcomes, he said. In 2023, Chinese police have also taken strong measures against criminal acts of cyber violence such as online smearing, insulting and privacy infringement, handling 110 cases so far, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.