The Digital Child Newsletter - 29th February
Plenty of new chances for involvement in the UK, and news of new online harms legislation around the world.
The Big News:
UK campaign momentum continues - hats off to “Smartphone-free child” groups.
Yeeeehaw! Kick-ass Texas Attorney General sues a major porn distributor for breaking age verification laws.
Deepfakes tsunami makes landfall. Evidence mounting we’re heading for big trouble.
UK News - four opportunities to get involved:
South London Parents unite: Parents of Year 3 pupils in a south London primary school have formed a grassroots movement pledging not to buy smartphones for their children while at school. Inspired by a nationwide campaign for a "smartphone-free childhood" they came together and took matters into their own hands.
Smartphones-free childhood: Find your local link here.
Ofcom’s consultation for service providers publishing porn: Ofcom’s next consultation – on the part 5 duties of pornography providers – closes on 5th March. You can provide a response here.
DSIT calls for information on porn: This is to inform the Government’s pornography review and help set industry rules – closes on 7th March.
Top wonks. Our good friends at the prestigious Online Safety Act Network have further info on Ofcom, the “harms” consultation and more upcoming events.
Big news on Big Tech:
Apple Vs Australia: We’re sad to see Apple opposing Australian government proposals to scan cloud services for child abuse material. Similar plans in the UK were shelved after Apple threatened to withdraw iMessage or iCloud. Good luck to our Aussie friends.
“Momfluencers” perpetuating child exploitation online:
The New Mexico attorney general, who last year sued Meta alleging that it did not protect children from sexual predators and had made false claims about its platforms’ safety, announced Monday that his office would examine how the company’s paid-subscription services attract predators.
The allegations were based, in part, on findings from accounts Mr. Torrez’s office created, including one for a fictitious 14-year-old girl who received an offer of $180,000 to appear in a pornographic video. Newspapers are building on this story.
WSJ found parents Meta’s monetisation tools to make money out of photos of their children. Chilling. Meta’s safety staff recommended the banning of accounts dedicated to child models but the company preferred an automated system designed to detect and ban suspected predators before they could subscribe. Let’s hope there’s a re-think.
The New York Times published an investigation on Thursday into girl influencers on the platform, reporting that the so-called mom-run accounts charge followers up to $19.99 a month for additional photos as well as chat sessions and other extras.
This deeply disturbing pattern of conduct puts children at risk — and persists despite a wave of lawsuits and congressional investigations.”
Raúl Torrez, New Mexico Attorney General
Explicit and illicit Deepfakes tsunami starts making landfall
Lincoln Rothall’s piece shows the alarming rise of deepfake technology targeting women, children and teenagers. He also referenced a shocking 2000% increase in the number of links promoting websites that use AI to create non-consensual intimate images. This is the internet our kids our growing up with. Horrifying.
"It's estimated around 90 per cent of all deepfake content is explicit. The troubling questions are — how much of that is consensual? How much features the sexual abuse of children?"
Julie Inman Grant, eSafety Commissioner
Around the World:
Canada:
Senate Bill S-210: another country is tabling a bill to implement age verification on porn sites. Here is a good summary. Disappointingly, President Trudeau says he opposes the bill. You can see his brief statement here. Let’s hope he sees the light.
"[Poilievre's] proposing that adults should have to give their ID and personal information to sketchy websites, or create a digital ID for adults to be able to browse the web where they want. That's something we stand against."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Encouragingly, the smartphone-in-schools ban is also well underway in Canada. Read up on some of it here.
Texas:
Hats off to the Texas Attorney General who is suing Pornhub parent company: The AG issued a writ against Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, for flouting Texan law requiring age verification on porn sites. The lawsuit is punchy stuff and gives plenty of detail on Aylo’s operation.
Idaho:
Idaho has mandated content filters on smartphones for under 18s: It marks a very positive shift towards creating a safe internet for kids. Here’s a strong piece reviewing progress to date. And assesses whether it’s a precedent for widespread implementation - we hope so.
Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka is struggling with all the usual issues in passing its Online Safety Act: Read here for an assessment of the progress and impacts.
Top Tweets:
BBCPolitics (again ft. Miriam Cates): "There are no proven benefits of being able to use social media and a smartphone."
Lord Bethell: "“Texas has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content.”
Laila Mickelwait: "Don’t ever let P*rnhub get away with the lie that they don’t want age verification because of “PriVaCy CoNcErNs.”