The Digital Child Newsletter - 19th April
Big News:
WhatsApp lowers its age requirements.
The UK smartphone ban conversation continues.
Kite-flying: a “national conversation” on smartphone-free kids?
Hope on the horizon: In The Times, Katy Balls outlines how Sunak is exploring various forms of bans in order to further protect kids online. In the light of his new smoking ban, could the PM follow certain US states in limiting access for under 18s?
“with the clock ticking down to an election within months, what can — and should — the government do? A number of options are being discussed. The most extreme is a ban on the sale of mobile phones for all under-16s.”
We’ll keep our ears to the ground.
WhatsApp’s under-13 marmalade-dropper!
After the police bust-up over end-to-end encryption, Meta is facing criticism for lowering the minimum age requirement for WhatsApp from 16 to 13 in the UK and EU. Conservative MP Vicky Ford dubbed it “highly irresponsible,” and concerns continue to be raised about the potential risks to children's safety.
"WhatsApp is putting shareholder profits first and children’s safety second... Reducing their age of use from 16 to 13 years old is completely tone deaf and ignores the increasingly loud alarm bells being rung by scientists, doctors, teachers, child safety experts, parents, and mental health experts alike."
Daisy Greenwell, Smartphone Free Childhood co-founder
We totally agree. This BBC article spells out how WhatsApp has led kids as young as 9 to particularly harmful content.
Big Tech: Passing on the buck, Zuck
Mark Zuckerberg successfully avoided personal liability in approximately two dozen lawsuits alleging that Meta and other social media companies have contributed to the addiction of children to their products.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled in favour of Zuckerberg, dismissing him as an individual defendant while allowing claims against Meta as a company to proceed. He was primarily accused of ignoring warnings about the safety risks of Instagram and Facebook for children. However, Zuckerberg was not obligated to disclose safety information unless there was a "special relationship" with the users.
This one is sure to anger the MAMAs.
Direct Messaging takes a step back:
Meta has announced a new safety tool aimed at preventing children from receiving and sending nude images on Instagram. Amongst other features, the tool will blur images that it detects to contain nudity and prompt users to reconsider before sending such images. It is now enabled by default for all users under 18, and notifications are encouraging adult users to activate it too.
"Meta has long argued that disrupting child sexual abuse in end-to-end encrypted environments would weaken privacy but these measures show that a balance between safety and privacy can be found."
Rani Govender, NSPCC senior policy officer.
It’s a healthy reaction to the growing number of sextortion cases cropping up online but does makes you wonder why a proactive safety-by-design approach is still resisted within Big Tech…?
Speaking of reactive: Between February and March, X has banned over 212,000 Indian accounts for policy violations primarily due to child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity.
And again: The Meta Oversight Board is scrutinizing Meta's handling of deepfake porn cases involving famous women like Taylor Swift and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, focusing on the effectiveness of its policies and detection systems. This comes after an explicit AI image of Swift was viewed over 45 million times in 17 hours on X.
Around the World:
UK: A 15-fold increase in CSAM:
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has reported 15 times more instances of CSAM when compared to a decade ago. In 2021 alone, the IWF has taken action against a record-breaking 200,000 websites containing such material. Susie Hargreaves, CEO of the Internet Watch Foundation, has, rightly, stressed the importance of proactive measures and regulatory frameworks, such as the Online Safety Bill, to prioritize children's safety in the digital landscape.
"Our analysts, every day, are holding back a tidal wave of criminal material, preventing it from spreading even further online, and stopping criminals from sharing the horrendous abuse of innocent children."
Susie Hargreaves, CEO of the Internet Watch Foundation
USA: The Adult industry fights back against Age Verification:
The adult film industry is urging the Supreme Court to temporarily block enforcement of a Texas law mandating age verification for users accessing adult content online. The law, aimed at restricting minors' access to pornography, is challenged on First Amendment grounds.
"The law in fact imposes significant burdens on adults’ access to constitutionally-protected expression, requiring them to provide personal identifying information online to access sensitive, intimate content."
ACLU attorney Vera Eidelman
Importantly, the access is still available for adults. It’s the kids we’re looking out for here.
Bans galore - the wider context: Nine states are actively debating bills aimed at protecting minors online, with measures like the "Kids Code" bill seeking to curb predatory practices by tech companies. This state-level action highlights the growing tension between advocates for child safety and Silicon Valley giants, who argue that such regulations could impede innovation and free speech, as above.
First Amendment Funding:
“For the past two years, technology giants have been directly lobbying in some of these states. In Maryland alone, tech giants racked up more than $243,000 in lobbying fees in 2023, the year the bill was introduced. Google spent $93,076, Amazon $88,886, and Apple $133,449 last year, according to state disclosure forms.”
Also, In 2022, Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta spent a combined $384,000 on lobbying in Minnesota, the highest total up to that point.
Talk about vested interests.
Ghana: The National Cybersecurity Challenge:
The Cyber Security Authority in Ghana is collaborating with stakeholders to develop policy initiatives supporting the implementation of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020, with a focus on safeguarding children in the digital space. This comes after the concerning stats that:
Ghana is ranked eighth globally on daily time spent on social media
"Over the last 10 years, children and young adults had consistently been the two groups found most likely to go online."
64.35 % of high schoolers surveyed said they have received pornographic materials in various forms.
Top Tweets:
AccountableTech: The vested interests of BigTech at play (2023)
Kite & Key Media on X: Jonathan Haidt's argument that smartphones and social media are taking a toll on the mental health of young people.
Channel 4 News on X: "98% of it is pornographic and 99% of the subject matter is a woman." Creating deepfake porn is to be a criminal offence after our investigation.