All articles tagged with #child safety
Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit against Roblox alleging the platform exposes children to sexual content and predators due to weak moderation and age-verification, while Roblox defends its safety safeguards amid ongoing scrutiny of tech platforms' handling of youth safety.
Labour is pushing to close a loophole in the Online Safety Act to require AI chatbot providers to meet illegal-content duties, with penalties up to 10% of global revenue and the possibility of blocking in the UK. The move follows controversy around Grok and rising concerns about harm to children from AI chatbots; ministers want to accelerate new social-media restrictions for under-16s after a public consultation, while Ofcom’s powers are being expanded and safety groups urge stronger protections.
Opening statements kick off a landmark LA County trial accusing Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube of deliberately addicting children, backed by internal emails and studies. TikTok and Snap settled, leaving Meta and YouTube to defend themselves as a bellwether case (KGM) could shape thousands of similar suits. The eight‑week trial may influence whether First Amendment or Section 230 defenses apply to platform liability, with Meta and YouTube denying the charges and highlighting safeguards, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg expected to testify. Related cases in New Mexico and Oakland, plus rising global policy action, reflect broad scrutiny of how social media affects young users.
Discord says it will roll out a March-wide safety update that by default provides a teen-appropriate experience; unlocking adult content and access to age-restricted spaces will require a one-time age verification (either a selfie video for age estimation or government ID with vendor partners). Unverified accounts will see blurred sensitive content and be blocked from age-restricted channels, servers, and app commands, while DMs from unknown users will go to a separate inbox. Some users may need multiple verification steps, and Discord plans future options like an age-inference model; the company is also forming a Teen Council to help shape teen safety policy.
Global regulators say condemnation of Elon Musk’s X over its Grok AI has reached a tipping point after a French raid linked to alleged abuses; X paused Grok image-generation for most users and promised safety fixes, while a broader eSafety report highlights some platform progress in detecting abuse but notes ongoing gaps across major services, with Apple singled out for progress and X not yet served in the latest notices.
A 7-year-old Indiana girl injected about 60% of her mother’s GLP-1 diabetes medicine after misinterpreting it as stomach medicine, resulting in dehydration, vomiting, and a hospital stay. Doctors feared kidney failure, but she recovered after hospital treatment. Her mother now keeps the medication locked away to prevent a repeat incident, highlighting the importance of proper storage and supervision of prescription drugs for children.
New Mexico's attorney general has filed a landmark suit accusing Meta of knowingly enabling predators to exploit children on Facebook and Instagram, alleging design choices and profit incentives prioritized engagement over safety, with unmoderated groups and ads alongside sexualized content. The seven-week Santa Fe trial follows a Guardian investigation and includes internal documents, an undercover operation (Operation MetaPhile), and a deposition from Mark Zuckerberg, as part of broader scrutiny of tech platforms and a related LA case challenging Section 230 immunity.
New Mexico’s attorney general is pursuing a stand-alone lawsuit against Meta over alleged harm to children from the platform, marking the state’s first standalone case against the company.
Security researchers found Bondu's web console was almost entirely unprotected, letting anyone with a Gmail account access over 50,000 transcripts of children's chats plus personal details. Bondu briefly took the console offline, then relaunched with authentication and said the issue was fixed within hours with no evidence of access beyond the researchers. The incident highlights serious privacy risks in AI-powered toys, the potential misuse of sensitive child data, and the need for stronger access controls and vendor risk management, especially where third‑party AI services may handle such data.
A wave of bellwether lawsuits targets Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube, accusing their platforms of being addictive and causing harm to teenagers; jury trials begin in California with potential federal cases later in Oakland, and a verdict could lead to damages and forced design changes, while companies contest the addiction claim and flag free-speech protections.
CCDH estimates that Grok, X’s image-editing AI, produced about 3.0 million sexualized, photorealistic images (roughly 23,338 of children) over 11 days after the feature’s launch, at a pace of ~190 images per minute, based on a 20,000-post sample across 4.6 million image posts. About 29% of the child-sexualized images remained accessible as of mid-January, and 9,936 non-photorealistic child images were also generated; all identified cases were reported to the Internet Watch Foundation. The analysis used AI-assisted detection with manual review and provides 95% uncertainty intervals for prevalence estimates.
Approximately 75,000 All4One 4-in-1 convertible car seats manufactured by Evenflo between January 2022 and June 2024 are being recalled due to a safety issue where the seat may shift in rear-facing mode, though no injuries have been reported. The company will provide free replacements, and owners are advised to handle the seats carefully until then.
A man attacked a 9-year-old girl in Van Nuys while she was walking with her mother and dog; he was bitten by the dog and fled the scene, with the girl sustaining minor injuries. Police are investigating the incident.
Ofcom has contacted Elon Musk's X about reports that its AI tool Grok has been used to generate sexualized images of children and undressed women, prompting investigations by multiple authorities and warnings from the platform. The AI's misuse has raised serious concerns about illegal content, with regulators emphasizing the need for tech firms to act swiftly to prevent and remove such material, and legal measures being considered to ban nudification tools.
Steven Anthony Lawrence, a former child actor from 'Even Stevens,' claims he was fired from Universal Studios after reporting a suspected pedophile, alleging retaliation by his employer, though he provides no evidence. The situation has sparked support on social media, but remains unverified.