TITLE: New report examines TikTok’s algorithm in recommending harmful content to vulnerable teen users

CONTENT: Researchers from the Center for Countering Digital Hate look into how TikTok's For You feed's algorithmic recommendations react to teen users who express interest in eating disorders, body image, and mental health.

By creating two brand-new accounts for users in the USA, UK, Australia, and Canada, all of whom were 13 years old, researchers looked at the algorithm behind TikTok. One of these accounts has a username that suggests a preoccupation with one's appearance. They watched and liked any videos about body image, mental health, or eating disorders for each account, and then they recorded the first 30 minutes of algorithmically suggested content on each account's "For You" feed. The resulting recordings were examined to see how frequently eating disorder, self-harm, and body image recommendations were made.

The study found that TikTok gave suicide-related information recommendations in under 2.6 minutes. Within 8 minutes, TikTok offered material on eating disorders. Every 39 seconds, teens on TikTok received recommendations for videos on body image and mental health. According to the study, self-harm videos were recommended to vulnerable accounts with the vulnerable phrase in their usernames 12 times more frequently than they were to regular accounts. The overwhelming deluge of increasingly more suggested films that appear on the feeds of young people who interact with this content is something they must endure.

EXCERPT: Researchers from the Center for Countering Digital Hate look into how TikTok's For You feed's algorithmic recommendations react to teen users who express interest in eating disorders, body image, and mental health. By creating two brand-new accounts for teen users, the report found that TikTok recommended information related to suicide within 2.6 minutes. Teens on TikTok were given recommendations for videos regarding body image and mental health every 39 seconds. The "vulnerable" accounts were recommended self-harm and suicide videos 12 times more frequently than the typical accounts.

LINK: https://counterhate.com/research/deadly-by-design/

TOPIC: Child safety online

TREND: Tik Tok, harmful content, algorithmic recommendations

DATE: December 15, 2022

COUNTRY: Global

TITLE: Meta restricts advertisers to see teen user’s gender information

CONTENT: The way that Meta's apps manage advertising and young users is changing. The new regulations limit how much individualised data advertisers on Facebook and Instagram may use to target ads at teenagers. Additionally, users under the age of 18 will now have more control over the ads they view and the reasons behind them.

Beginning the following month, Meta will discontinue the option for gender-based ad targeting of users who are teenagers. Additionally, the business will stop allowing marketers to target under-18 users with tailored advertising based on their in-app behaviour, such as which Facebook pages they like and who they follow on Instagram. After the adjustments, the only factors used to determine the relevance of tailored advertising on those applications will be a user's age and location.

EXCERPT: Starting next month, Meta will remove the option for targeting advertising to teen users based on gender. The company will also end advertisers’ ability to target personalized ads to under-18 users based on their in-app activity, including who they follow on Instagram and what Facebook pages they like.

LINK: https://about.fb.com/news/2023/01/age-appropriate-ads-for-teens/

TOPIC: Child safety online

TREND: gender, online advertising

DATE: January 10, 2023

COUNTRY: Global

TITLE: New report reveals how the U.S. adolescents engaged with or experienced pornography online

CONTENT: According to a research by Common Sense Media, 75% of teens have seen online porn by the time they are 17, with the average age of first exposure being 12 years old. The report's goals are to provide a baseline for understanding U.S. teens' pornography use and to comprehend the role that internet pornography plays in adolescent life in the United States.

The study by Common Sense was based on a poll of 1,358 Americans between the ages of 13 and 17. More than half of those surveyed admitted to seeing pornographic footage of violent crimes like rape, suffocation, or people in pain. The majority of respondents claimed that Asian, Black, and Latino stereotypes were depicted in pornography. After seeing porn, more than half of respondents claimed they felt bad or ashamed. Meanwhile, 45% of respondents felt that pornography gave them useful information about sex. Teenagers who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. in particular claimed it helped them learn more about their sexuality.

EXCERPT: According to a research by Common Sense Media, 75% of teens have seen online porn by the time they are 17, with the average age of first exposure being 12 years old. The report's goals are to provide a baseline for understanding U.S. teens' pornography use and to comprehend the role that internet pornography plays in adolescent life in the United States.

LINK: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/teens-and-pornography

TOPIC: Child safety online or Children’s rights

TREND: Child safety online; adolescents;

DATE: January 10, 2023

COUNTRY: United States

TITLE: 2023 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress

CONTENT: 2023 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress

Theme: Researchers, clinicians, educators, government agency representatives, and others with expertise in psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, pediatrics, communications, social work, public health, education, and more will come together to explore how digital media use impacts the social, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, and physical development of children.

Date: 20-23 September 2023

Location: Washington D.C., The U.S.

Host: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development is an international non-profit organization founded in 2013 to understand and address compelling questions regarding media's impact on child development through interdisciplinary dialogue, public information, and rigorous, objective research bridging the medical, neuroscientific, social science, public health, educational, and academic communities.

EXCERPT: 2023 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress will be hosted by Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development on 20-23 September 2023 in Washington D.C.

LINK: https://www.childrenandscreens.com/2023-digital-media-and-developing-minds/

TOPIC: Child safety online

TREND: digital media, children development

DATE: 21 Dec 2022

COUNTRY: the U.S.

TITLE: More time spent online might increase the risk of OCD for children

CONTENT: Preteens are more likely to develop the obsessive-compulsive disorder if they spend more time playing internet games or watching videos. The most extensive long-term investigation of brain development in American children, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development research, has reached this conclusion. The preteens had a 13% higher chance of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder within two years for every additional hour they spent playing video games. Additionally, for every additional hour they spent watching internet videos, their chance of OCD increased by 11%. According to the report, schools can be vital in ensuring that adolescents form positive digital habits at a crucial juncture in their growth.

EXCERPT: Preteens are more likely to develop the obsessive-compulsive disorder if they spend more time playing on internet games or watching videos. The most extensive long-term investigation of brain development in American children, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development research, has reached this conclusion.

LINK: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/screen-time-can-raise-childrens-chance-of-ocd-educators-can-help-prevent-that/2022/12

TOPIC: Children’s rights

TREND: online gaming, screen time, mental health

DATE: December 20, 2022

COUNTRY: the U.S.

TITLE: New evidence revealed the disparity in the internet access for children in five African countries

CONTENT: A recent UNICEF research brief estimated the level of internet access for children in Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania, as well as the most common barriers to connecting children to the digital world and their consequences. The report classified these common barriers into three categories: infrastructure-related, resource-constrained, and adult permission-related. According to the findings, 90% of children in the five countries surveyed reported having at least one barrier to regular internet access. The most frequently mentioned barrier was the high cost of data.

The report identified three priorities for addressing the digital divide and enabling equal access to digital connectivity: investing in electricity and connectivity with a focus on marginalised communities and users; lowering the cost of connectivity and devices; and addressing cultural and social norms as barriers to address for children and adolescents.

EXCERPT: A recent UNICEF research brief revealed that 90% of children in Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, and Tanzania experienced at least one of three common barriers to regular internet access - infrastructure-related, resource-constrained, and adult permission-related barriers. The most frequently mentioned barrier was the high cost of data.

LINK: https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/1559-estimates-of-internet-access-for-children-in-ethiopia-kenya-namibia-uganda-and-the-united-republic-of-tanzania.html

TOPIC: Children’s rights

TREND: internet access; internet connectivity; digital divide; digital inclusion.

DATE: November 2022

COUNTRY: Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda and Tanzania

TITLE: WHO report evaluates online safety and violence against children educational programmes for youth.

CONTENT: Based on a review of evaluations of online safety programmes and online VAC programmes for children and adolescents, the report, What Works to Prevent Online Violence Against Children, discovered strong evidence that prevention education for children can work, and that this is a key strategy for addressing online VAC. Educational programmes have been widely demonstrated to improve overall safety and health. These educational programmes are particularly effective in preventing one type of online VAC, cyberbullying (both victimisation and perpetration).

This report also captured a number of structural and skill components that contribute to the effectiveness of educational programmes and should be widely adopted.

• Structural components include multiple and varied learning strategies and tools; more lessons, more message exposures, more reminders, and follow-ups; using peer engagement, role-plays, and interactions; getting a supportive whole-school environment; and parental involvement.
• Skill components include problem-solving, assertiveness, empathy, self-regulation, help-seeking, bystander or defender mobilization, social norm instruction, sex education, and substance abuse education.

The report also revealed that there is a lack of evidence about the success of prevention programmes for online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The report suggests implementing school-based educational programmes with multiple sessions that encourage youth interaction and involve parents. It emphasises the need for more violence prevention programmes that integrate content about online dangers with offline violence prevention. It suggested less emphasis on stranger danger and more emphasis on acquaintance and peer perpetrators, who are responsible for the majority of online violence against children.

EXCERPT: The WHO report on what works to prevent online violence against children, based on a review of evaluations of online safety programmes for youth, found strong evidence that prevention education for children can work and can increase safety and health in general.

LINK: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/978924006206

TOPIC: Child safety online

TREND: Violence against children; online violence against children; educational program; cyberbullying; online child sexual exploitation and abuse; evidence review.

DATE: 24 November 2022

COUNTRY: Global

TITLE: UNICEF released a future-ready, child-centered digital framework to address inequalities in children's lives.

CONTENT: Given that digital exclusion mirrors and magnifies existing social, cultural, and economic inequities and pushes vulnerable children closer to the edges of marginalisation, the digitization of society has an uneven consequence on all children. In order to address the effects of the shifting digital and governance landscape, as well as emerging and embedded technologies, on children's experience with digital technologies, a future-oritened framework for an equitable digital future was proposed in this new UNICEF report. This framework drew the needs of transformation from "digital inclusion" to "digital equality". For this framework to effectively respond to new trends and technologies, a wider range of stakeholders must be engaged.

The framework can be used as a foundation for developing and evaluating digital inclusion policies, as a roadmap for structuring the involvement of pertinent stakeholders in achieving digital equality for children, and as a tool to assist in the design of policies and interventions by state authorities, civic groups, and the private sector.

EXCERPT: A new child-centered digital framework proposed by UNICEF painted an equitable digital future, highlighting the need for a shift from "digital inclusion" to "digital equality," as well as increased participation from relevant stakeholders.

LINK: https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/reports/towards-child-centred-digital-equality-framework

TOPIC: Children’s rights

TREND: digital equity; child-centred; inequality

DATE: October 2022

COUNTRY: Global

TITLE: WHO report recommends to strengthen the evidence base to monitor the digital health transformation

CONTENT: Digital health refers to the use of information and communication technologies for delivering health care and service, managing health systems and facilities. Despite the positive role that digital health has played to improve health care access, safety, and quality, this WHO report pointed out that digital health programmes and interventions are often not monitored or evaluated. It found that existing metrics for measurement and evaluation tend to be left behind by the rapid evolution of digital health. This report made the case for the necessity of incorporating health data measurement and governance into health care systems. Making available information more accessible at the national and international levels, addressing the variability in digital health monitoring, paying closer attention to monitoring digital health inequalities, and addressing the potential risk of exacerbating inequalities among the most vulnerable, including young children, are all necessary steps to improve monitoring activities.

EXCERPT: A WHO report noted that monitoring of digital health programmes is frequently lacking. It advised focusing attention on enhancing current measurement measures, reducing the variability in digital health monitoring, and addressing the disparities in digital health among the most vulnerable, especially young children.

LINK: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/WHO-EURO-2022-5985-45750-65816

TOPIC: Children’s rights

TREND: digital health; monitoring and evaluation.

DATE: 22 November 2022

COUNTRY: Global

TITLE: Disrupting Harm Research Project generates and archives new evidence on how digital technology facilitates the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

CONTENT: This resource page consists of evidence on online child sexual exploitation and abuse at national and regional levels, which helps us to better understand the disrupting situations of abuse and exploitation in developing countries, and better navigate how to prevent them. Evidence has been generated and collected through desk-based research and nationally representative survey with internet-using children aged 12-17 and their caregivers in 13 countries across Eastern and Southern Africa and Southeast Asia. National reports and a series of data insight reports can be found on this page, presenting an overal understanding of the threats that online child sexual exploitation and abuse causes and national responses to the threat.

EXCERPT: Disrupting harm project, hosted by the End Violence Partnership, in collaboration with ECPAT International, INTERPOL and the UNICEF Innocenti, to conduct research and assessment in 13 countries across Eastern and Southern Africa and Southeast Asia and generate and collect new evidence on how digital technology facilitates the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

LINK: https://www.end-violence.org/disrupting-harm#context

TOPIC: child safety online

TREND: online child sexual exploitation and abuse; disrupting harm

DATE: November 2022

COUNTRY: Global