social media – Page 2 – The NEN

Government works with TikTok to help safety for treatments abroad

Patients who use social media to plan cosmetic procedures will now access more reliable information thanks to a ‘landmark new initiative’

New online campaign to give people clear, reliable advice before travelling overseas for cosmetic or medical treatments.
It aims to raise awareness of the risks, protect patients and reduce costs for the NHS of fixing botched procedures.
Part of wider government initiative to improve safety of cosmetic treatments.

Patients who use social media to help plan cosmetic procedures will now be able to access more reliable trustworthy information thanks to a landmark new initiative between the government and TikTok.

More people are using social media apps like TikTok to research potentially risky operations – like hair transplants and dental work – abroad as they are often cheaper or more readily available than in the UK but are often presented with slick marketing campaigns that do not highlight the dangers of the surgery.

To help keep these patients informed, TikTok and the government have partnered with medical influencers, like Midwife Marley and Doc Tally to create content to show the risks, help carry out thorough research and provides advice on how to make trips as safe as possible.

The Foreign Office will also provide more detailed travel advice for those seeking to travel abroad for ‘tweakments.’

Health Minister Karin Smyth said: “Too many people are being left with life-altering injuries after going abroad for medical procedures, without access to proper advice or safeguards.

“Often drawn in by deals too good to be true and promoted by influencers – some of whom have never been to the practice in question.

“By partnering with TikTok, we’re helping people make safer, more informed choices before they go under the knife – wherever that may be.

“Through our Plan for Change, we’re determined to protect patients, ease pressure on the NHS and make sure taxpayers are not left paying the price when things go wrong.”

The campaign warns that when it comes to cosmetic surgery abroad, the lowest price can come at the highest cost.

It urges people to think beyond the slick brochures and marketing, and to consider clinical standards, complication risks, and language barriers.

It will urge potential patients to speak to a UK doctor, take out travel insurance, and steer clear of package holidays that bundle in procedures. The medics will provide a check list to go through before considering booking a procedure abroad: research thoroughly, check the clinic’s regulation and the surgeon’s credentials, know the full cost, understand the aftercare, and ask the vital question – if it goes wrong, who will fix it?

The online campaign is part of wider government efforts to curb medical tourism. Work is underway to stop events in the UK that promote procedures abroad and the government is working with other countries to improve patient care from initial consultations to post-surgery recovery.

The government is looking at additional ways of protecting patients who go abroad for these types of procedures, while ensuring the NHS is not left to pick up the tab of botched or harmful work.

The move follows the announcement last week to crack down on dodgy cosmetic practitioners in England. The new regulations will mean the highest risk procedures, such as non-surgical Brazilian Butt Lifts (BBLs), can only be carried out by qualified, specialised healthcare professionals, registered with the Care Quality Commission.  The measures also include developing a licensing scheme for lower risk procedures like Botox and fillers, alongside introducing minimum age restrictions. 

Minister Doughty, Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories: “Our aim is to explain the risks and help British people understand the actions they can take to keep themselves safe when abroad.

“If you choose to travel abroad for medical treatment, it is vital you do your research and are fully aware of the risks involved.

“We urge anyone considering a medical procedure abroad to review our travel advice, relevant guidance from the NHS and other professional bodies, and research foreign providers thoroughly to ensure they meet the highest standard of care.

“Informed choices today can help avoid serious complications tomorrow.”

Ali Law, Director of Public Policy, Northern Europe said: “At TikTok we are committed to providing our community with information from trusted sources when searching for topics related to physical and mental health.

“We’re pleased to work with the government on this new initiative to improve the safety of people going abroad for treatment and we will continue to promote credible content through our Clinician Creator Council made of NHS practitioners.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office has also updated its online travel advice advising people on how to stay safe when traveling abroad for medical or cosmetic reasons.

This work will help improve patient safety and reduce costs for the NHS by reducing the number of people needing medical support when things go wrong, providing greater value for the taxpayer and reducing pressure on staff.

Keeping children safe online: Changes to the Online Safety Act explained

How new laws that keep children safe on the internet work

Keeping children safe

The way children experience the internet has fundamentally changed, as new laws under the Online Safety Act have come into force to protect under-18s from harmful online content they shouldn’t ever be seeing. This includes content relating to:

pornography
self-harm
suicide
eating disorder content

Ofcom figures show that children as young as 8 have accessed pornography online, while 16% of teenagers have seen material that stigmatises body types or promotes disordered eating in the last 4 weeks.   

To protect the next generation from the devastating impact of this content, people now have to prove their age to access pornography or this other harmful material on social media and other sites.    

Platforms are required to use secure methods like facial scans, photo ID and credit cards checks to verify the age of their users. This means it will be much harder for under-18s to accidentally or intentionally access harmful content. 

It’s clear in Ofcom’s codes that we expect platforms to ensure that strangers have no way of messaging children. This includes preventing children from receiving DMs from strangers and children should not be recommended any accounts to connect with.  

Data privacy

While people might see more steps to prove their age when signing up or browsing age-restricted content, they won’t be compromising their privacy.    

The measures platforms have to put in place must confirm your age without collecting or storing personal data, unless absolutely necessary. For example, facial estimation tools can estimate your age from an image without saving that image or identifying who you are. Many third-party solutions have the ability to provide platforms with an answer to the question of whether a user is over 18, without sharing any additional data relating to the user’s identity. 

 The government and the regulator, Ofcom, are clear that platforms must use safe, proportionate and secure methods, and any company that misuses personal data or doesn’t protect users could face heavy penalties.

Services must also comply with the UK’s data protection laws. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has set out the main data protection principles that services must take into account in the context of age assurance, including minimising personal data which is collected for these purposes.  

Virtual Private Networks

While Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are legal in the UK, according to this law, platforms have a clear responsibility to prevent children from bypassing safety protections. This includes blocking content that promotes VPNs or other workarounds specifically aimed at young users.   

This means that where platforms deliberately target UK children and promote VPN use, they could face enforcement action, including significant financial penalties.  

The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) reports that there has been an additional 5 million age checks on a daily basis as UK-based internet users seek to access sites that are age-restricted.

Legal adult content

Online Safety laws do not ban any legal adult content. Instead, the laws protect children from viewing material that causes real harm in the offline world, devastating young lives and families.   

Under the Act, platforms should not arbitrarily block or remove content and instead must take a risk-based, proportionate approach to child safety duties.

Protecting freedom of speech?

As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression. Failure to meet either obligation can lead to severe penalties, including fines of up to 10% of global revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater.

The Act is not designed to censor political debate and does not require platforms to age gate any content other than those which present the most serious risks to children such as pornography or suicide and self-harm content.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: This marks the most significant step forward in child safety since the internet was created.

“The reality is that most children aren’t actively seeking out harmful, dangerous, or pornographic content – unfortunately it finds them. That’s why we’ve taken decisive action.

“Age verification keeps children safe. Rather than looking for ways around it, let’s help make the internet a safer, more positive space for children – and a better experience for everyone. That’s something we should all aspire to.”

Support for the Online Safety Act

NSPCC Chief Executive, Chris Sherwood: “We regularly hear from children who have suffered sexual and emotional abuse online, or who have been exposed to harmful and dangerous content.

“These experiences can have devastating impacts both immediately and long into the future. While the Online Safety Act can’t erase this pain and anger, it can be a vehicle for significant and lasting change.

“Thanks to this piece of ground-breaking regulation, algorithms are now being redesigned. Age checks are now in place. Harmful material that promotes eating disorders and suicide should no longer proliferate on social media platforms.

“This will – without a doubt – create safer, more age-appropriate online experiences for young users across the UK.”

Barnardo’s CEO, Lynne Perry: “These new protections are an important stepping stone towards making sure that children are safer online.

“They must be robustly enforced.”

Internet Matters: “Today marks an important milestone for children’s online safety […] towards ensuring that online services are designed with children’s safety in mind – from limiting children’s exposure to harmful content to creating age-appropriate experiences. 

“This milestone matters because the risks children face online remain high. Our latest Internet Matters Pulse shows that 3 in 4 children aged 9-17 experience harm online, from exposure to violent content to unwanted contact from strangers.

“With the Codes now enforceable, Ofcom must hold platforms accountable for meeting their obligations under the law.”

Teens experiment with social media in unexpected ways

TIKTOK LAUNCH IN-APP PROGRAMME #SUMMERSKILLS WITH BIG NAMES FROM WORLD OF SPORTS, SCIENCE AND MORE

New research commissioned by TikTok reveals that 9 in 10 British parents (87%) get stressed when planning their teenager’s summer holidays… but also shows a similar number of teenagers (87%) are engaging with educational content on TikTok
That’s why TikTok has created #SummerSkills: an, in-app programme designed to support British parents and empower teens to learn, connect, and express themselves creatively throughout the summer break
The #SummerSkills initiative reflects TikTok’s broader mission to foster learning through creativity and connection, and is launching in partnership with Lioness Millie Bright OBE, the RSC, scientist Big Manny and many more

TikTok has unveiled #SummerSkills: an in-app programme designed to support British parents this summer, where famous faces will be teaching useful skills to teenagers throughout the holidays.

The launch follows new research which reveals the stresses parents are under during the school break. Close to half (47%) struggle to find ways to keep their teenagers entertained and engaged over the holidays, but perhaps don’t realise that a solution is already at their disposal.

The same research shows that 88% of British teens already turn to TikTok for educational content, just under half (44%) use TikTok to discover new interests, and 40% are using TikTok to find how-to tutorials such as learning a sports skill.

That’s why TikTok developed the #SummerSkills programme. It is designed to alleviate some of the stresses parents feel by providing teens with a free and engaging way to learn new skills with their favourite creators, on a platform they are now regularly using for learning content, then trying it out in real life.

With over 1.3 million videos under the #STEM hashtag, 60 million under #BookTok, and more than 567,000 under #songwriting, TikTok is fast becoming a space where learning feels creative and fun.

The #SummerSkills Programme will run across the full five-weeks of the ENGLISH school holidays, inspiring creativity, discovery and skill-building.

From mastering trick-shots with Chelsea FC Women’s captain Millie Bright, to mastering the written word with @ChloeCarterwith2rs, teens can explore new skills and passions across five themed weeks by heading to #SummerSkills and #LearnOnTikTok in the app – where they can discover something new on their feed, then try it out in real life.

Each week features a standout line-up of creators and engaging TikTok LIVEs, including:

Sports Week, with @milliebright04, OBE, Chelsea FC Women’s captain and England international, beginning Wednesday, 23 July, who will be taking teens through the Do’s and Don’ts of defending 1v1 including tips on technique to help your team succeed, as well as footballing self-care recovery to keep yourself match fit. Sports Week also features TikTok LIVE with @RisingBallers.

STEM Week, with @big.manny1, author, science content creator and bio-med graduate, beginning Monday 4 August, who will demo how to test the pH of products at home including beverages and cosmetic products using only a red cabbage and some hot water. STEM week also features a TikTok LIVE with Particle physicist at CERN @particleclara.

Literature Week, with @chloecarterrwith2rs, spoken-word poet, beginning Monday 11 August, who is going to talk teens through how to write a poem to their future self and perfect their spoken word poetry skills. Literature Week also features @theRSC who will be hosted a hands-on creative skills workshop and TikTok live for teens at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, where ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ is currently playing.

Music Week, beginning Monday 18 August, artists will inspire young people to become songwriters

Well-being Week, with @fahima.therapy, therapist and well-being advocate, beginning Monday 25 August, who will teach teens to name and regulate their emotions using an emotion wheel, as well as how to self-sooth using their senses.

Sports Week kicked off with a special football masterclass in London led by Lioness legend Millie Bright, who helped teens build confidence, stay active, and develop football skills like speed and agility, passing and control and dribbling and shooting.Having risen through grassroots football to captain her country, Millie also shared the importance of resilience, teamwork and continuous learning.

Millie Bright OBE, Chelsea FC Women’s captain and Englandinternational said: “I’m delighted to have joined the TikTok #SummerSkills programme to inspire teens to learn new football skills over the Summer holidays.

“Anybody can learn a new skill as long as they are curious, so grab your friends and family, and challenge them to try something different – you might just surprise yourself.”

Throughout the campaign, TikTok remains committed to helping teens develop healthy digital habits and explore safely. All accounts for users under 18 have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit, and new tools, such as an in-app meditation feature, help encourage winding down after 10pm.

These measures are part of TikTok’s broader efforts to prioritise teen well-being, ensuring young users can confidently turn their positive online inspiration into real-world action.

Dominic Burns, TikTok’s Head of Operations, UK, Ireland and Nordics, said: “We know that TikTok is a place where teens come to discover and learn, particularly through our dedicated STEM feed and communities like #BookTok and #LearnonTikTok.

“We’re thrilled to bring the TikTok #SummerSkills programme to parents and teens to help them learn new skills together during the holidays, from football tricks to songwriting, poetry to science experiments, TikTok creators will bring these skills to life each week throughout the summer.

“This initiative complements our ongoing work to provide parents with tools and resources through our Family Pairing feature to ensure teens have a positive experience on our platform.”

#SummerSkills offers teens a creative and supportive space to make the most of their summer, while giving parents an easy, trusted way to add value to screen time.

Whether you’re looking to try something new or level up a skill you already love, here’s how to take part in #SummerSkills:

Search #SummerSkills or #LearnOnTikTok on TikTok to explore the latest videos

Follow @TikTok_UKto discover new skills each week

Join a #SummerSkills TikTok LIVE and learn a new skill with your favourite creator

Share your favourite #SummerSkills and help to inspire others along the way

Social media platforms failing to protect girls from harm at every stage

New NSPCC research has found that even the most popular social media platforms are failing girls at every stage, making them vulnerable to grooming, abuse, and harassment.
This comes as polling by the children’s charity also shows that a strong majority of adults across GB and in Scotland (86%) believe tech companies are not doing enough to protect girls from harm on social media.
Parents of girls aged 4-17 across GB highlighted contact from strangers (41%), online grooming (40%), bullying from other children (37%), and sexual abuse or harassment (36%) as their top four concerns when it came to their daughter’s experiences online.

The NSPCC is calling on tech companies to rethink how social media platforms are designed and prioritise creating age-appropriate experiences for young girls online.

Social media platforms, messaging apps and gaming platforms are failing to protect girls at every stage, according to new research from the NSPCC.

The children’s charity commissioned PA Consulting to conduct a new report, Targeting of Girls Online, which identified a wide range of risks girls face across ten popular online platforms including grooming, harassment and abuse.

As part of the research, fake profiles of a teenage girl were created on these sites.

The report found that the detailed nature of the profiles made it too easy for adult strangers to pick out girls and send unsolicited messages to their accounts.

Findings also highlighted how many of the features and functionalities employed by tech companies subliminally encourage young girls to increase their online networks, online consumption, and online activity – often at the expense of their own safety.

In response the NSPCC is urging Ofcom to address the significant gaps in its Illegal Harms Codes which fail to take into account specific risks which would be mitigated by solutions found in the report.

This comes as new YouGov polling for the children’s charity of 3,593 adults from across Great Britain, including 326 adults from Scotland, found that most respondents in both GB (86%) and in Scotland (86%) believe tech companies are doing too little to protect girls under the age of 18 on their platforms.

The survey also polled parents with daughters (431 from across GB), who listed contact from strangers (41%), online grooming (40%), bullying from other children (37%), and sexual abuse or harassment (36%) as their top four concerns related to their child’s experience online.

Half of the parents surveyed (52%) expressed concern over their daughter’s online experiences.

The Targeting of Girls Online report analysed features and design choices of these platforms which expose girls to harm online – including abuse, harassment and exploitation from strangers.

Proposed solutions include:

all services conducting their own ‘abusability studies’ to identify risky features and functionalities, as well as testing any new feature before rolling it out. These tests must include a gendered analysis of likely risk
social media apps should integrate screenshot capabilities into a reporting function, along with automatically detecting identifiable information in bios.
social media apps should implement a “cooling off” period once a connection is made between users, resulting in increased restrictions on interactions.
increased measures to prevent non trusted adults from being able to video call young users.

In particular, Ofcom should develop best practice guidance for regulated services, which outlines how safety settings and other protections can be adapted based on children’s age.

The regulator should then work with service providers, especially those most popular with children, to implement this guidance.

Without these necessary safeguards, young users – in particular girls – remain highly vulnerable to unsafe online interactions.

The NSPCC has long heard from young girls about their negative experiences online through Childline which encouraged them to undertake this research.

One 15-year-old who contacted Childline said: “I’ve been sent lots of inappropriate images online recently, like pictures of naked people that I don’t want to see.

“At first, I thought they were coming from just one person, so I blocked them. But then I realised the stuff was coming from loads of random people I don’t know. I’m going to try disable ways people can add me, so hopefully I’ll stop getting this stuff.”*

Rani Govender, Policy Manager for Child Safety Online, said: “Parents are absolutely right to be concerned about the risks their daughters’ are being exposed to online, with this research making it crystal clear that tech companies are not doing nearly enough to create age-appropriate experiences for girls.

“We know both on and offline girls face disproportionate risks of harassment, sexual abuse, and exploitation. That’s why it’s so worrying that these platforms are fundamentally unsafe by design – employing features and dark patterns that are putting girls in potentially dangerous situations.

“There needs to be a complete overhaul of how these platforms are built. This requires tech companies and Ofcom to step up and address how poor design can lead to unsafe spaces for girls.

“At the same time Government must layout in their upcoming Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy steps to help prevent child sexual offences and tackle the design failures of social media companies that put girls in harm’s way.”

Young people looking for support on any of the issues mentioned, can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or visit Childline.org.uk. Childline is available to all young people until their 19^th birthday.

Adults who are concerned about a child can contact the NSPCC Helpline by calling 0808 800 5000, or email: help@NSPCC.org.uk

Deep distrust of the police and lack of opportunity motivated children’s participation in last summer’s riot

Hundreds of children, some as young as 11, were caught up in riots last summer sparked by tragic murders of three girls in Southport.
At least 147 children arrested, 84 charged, 73 with finalised outcomes by October 31^st.
Children’s Commissioner uses unique statutory powers to speak to around 20% of the children including some in Young Offenders Institutions charged in connection with last summer’s riots.
In interviews, many spoke strongly about their distrust of the police, describing previous bad experiences and community mistrust.
Postcode lottery with the youth justice system as outcomes depended on where they lived.

Unique research by the Children’s Commissioner’s Office found that young people who took part in last summer’s riots were not primarily driven by social media misinformation or racism but by curiosity of the events, deep distrust of the police or the lack of opportunities in their community.

Dame Rachel de Souza used her statutory powers to speak to about 20 per cent of the children who were charged in the aftermath of the summer riots that broke out after the tragic murders of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar in Southport on 29 July 2024.

Hundreds of children – some as young as 11 – were caught up in the unrest in 26 areas across England following the lead of thousands of adults whose involvement was deemed to be racially motivated targeting locations known to house asylum seekers.

The findings of today’s report focus on children’s motivation for taking part, challenging the prevailing narrative that young people’s involvement was orchestrated by deliberate misinformation spread through social media linked to racist and right-wing influencers.

While these factors played a potential role, they did not appear to drive children’s actions.

Instead, many children’s involvement in the riots was spontaneous, not thought out and opportunistic. The report found that they were not primarily driven by far-right, anti-immigration or racist views. Children spoke about their curiosity of these events and their animosity towards the police.

Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Like everyone I was truly horrified and heartbroken by the deaths of those three little girls in Southport last July.

“The initial response from the community to their deaths brought out some of the best of humanity, as people shared their collective grief and shock. But within a day, violent unrest started to unfold across the country in an apparent response to claims made about the girls’ attacker.

“The involvement of children in those riots and the reasons they told me they got involved raise some really serious questions about childhood in England and why our children feel so disaffected and disempowered.”

Based on interviews by the Children’s Commissioner’s office between November and December 2024 with children charged in connection to last summer’s riots, the report presents their views, as told to the Children’s Commissioner and her team directly – with key findings including:

Scale of youth involvement: At least 147 children arrested, 84 charged, 73 with finalised outcomes by October 31^st. Further arrests are anticipated as police continue to review evidence.
Spontaneous participation: Children’s actions were often impulsive and unconsidered, driven by curiosity, a sense of animosity towards the police, or the thrill of the moment – not primarily driven by far-right ideologies as widely speculated.
Distrust of the police: Many children cited previous negative interactions and deep-seated mistrust of the police within their community, which fuelled their actions during the riots, viewing them as an opportunity to retaliate against the police.
Calls for change: Children identified poverty, a lack of youth activities and limited employment opportunities as underlying vulnerabilities that must be addressed to protect young people from crime and exploitation.

Today’s report by the Children’s Commissioner found the government’s response to the riots resulted in unusually severe charges and sentences, often overlooking children’s potential for rehabilitation.

Outcomes for children appeared to vary based on location, with inconsistent application of child-first principles and underutilised expertise of the Youth Justice Service (YJS).

Dame Rachel de Souza said: “As Children’s Commissioner, it’s my duty to listen to children, regardless of their circumstances. This includes hearing the voices of young victims, and in exceptional circumstances like this, hearing directly from children accused of perpetrating violence against others.

“These conversations were striking, and often unsettling. Many described impulsive decisions, driven by disaffection or distrust of the police as factors for their involvement.

“This report does not excuse criminality. The harm caused by these children’s actions is undeniable. Many – but not all – of the children acknowledged the need for accountability and consequences for their actions.

“Today’s findings offer no simple solutions but paints a more complex picture than has been debated following the riots. However, it is one that we must grapple with in order to create a more positive experience of childhood than one this report sets out.”

In her report, the Children’s Commissioner highlights the importance of upholding the child-first principles of the youth justice system, particularly in times of national crisis. Children are different to adults and a child must be seen as such first and foremost, rather than as an offender, to keep communities safe by preventing and reducing offending behaviour.

Rehabilitation and addressing the underlying causes of children’s involvement must be the primary objective of youth justice with custodial sentences always the last resort. The widespread expression of hostility toward the police among these children also highlights an urgent need for child-centred policing that builds trust and fosters positive relationships.

Today’s report, ‘Children’s involvement in the 2024 riots’ is available online.

Nearly half of adults in Scotland don’t consider planning for their digital legacy in their Wills, new poll reveals

A concerning number of adults in Scotland risk leaving grieving loved ones without access to cherished memories and vital information by neglecting to plan for their digital legacy, a new survey by Will Aid shows.

The national Will-writing campaign has revealed 44% of respondents in Scotland overlooked the critical need to include digital assets in estate planning – meaning friends and family may face significant challenges in the event of their death, including the loss of treasured photographs, and difficulties in managing financial affairs.

As the world becomes increasingly digital, our online lives leave behind an important, but often overlooked, legacy.

The rise of digital banking, cloud storage, and the prevalence of social media means that a person’s online presence and assets can be just as valuable – if not more so – than their physical belongings. Yet, many individuals fail to consider this when preparing their Will, so sorting out the deceased’s estate becomes a more complicated task than it needs to be, adding stress to an already difficult time.

Michael Cressey, from Hadfield Bull and Bull Solicitors, said: “In an age where so much of our lives are online, ensuring loved ones have access to your digital accounts after you die is crucial. 

“Many people do not realise how much valuable information is stored in their email and online profiles – from financial records to cherished photographs. Failing to leave clear instructions and passwords can cause significant emotional and logistical hardship for those left behind. 

“Leaving instructions for digital assets in a safe way not only ensures access to important assets but can also help loved ones manage practical matters such as closing accounts, settling bills, and even notifying institutions of the death. There are ways that you can update your online accounts with Apple iPhone by using the ‘legacy’ function in your phone settings, which will help you plan for the future.” 

The annual Will Aid campaign sees solicitors across the UK volunteering their time to write Wills throughout November, making it an ideal opportunity for people to get their wishes professionally drafted in a legal document, which will help to protect their loved ones in the future.

Peter de Vena Franks, Will Aid Campaign Director, said: “By planning ahead, individuals can help ensure their online legacy is managed according to their wishes, and spare their loved ones from additional stress.

“This year’s Will Aid campaign is the ideal time to talk to a solicitor, and ensure their wishes are clearly documented, giving them peace of mind that their loved ones will be spared additional upset and stress in the event of their death.”

Will Aid is a partnership between the legal profession and seven of the UK’s best-loved charities.

The initiative, which has been running for more than 30 years, sees participating solicitors waive their fee for writing basic Wills every November.

Instead, they invite clients to make an upfront donation to Will Aid – a suggested £100 for a single basic Will and £180 for a pair of basic ‘mirror’ Wills.

Appointments are available now, and you can sign up by visiting www.willaid.org.uk

Donations to the campaign are shared by Will Aid’s partner charities, which operate both here in the UK and around the world.

For more information on Will Aid and how to get involved visit www.willaid.org.uk

Social media safety for young people

Campaign to stop the sharing of violent incidents

A national campaign to support young people to safely navigate social media and prevent violence has been launched.

‘Quit Fighting For Likes’ aims to get young people to think about and discuss attitudes and behaviours around the filming and sharing of violent incidents.

Developed by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU), YouthLink Scotland and Medics Against Violence (MAV), the new campaign is part of an action plan agreed in the Scottish Government’s Violence Prevention Framework, published in May last year.

It features a short awareness-raising animation, illustrating the digital world where this content can take place and showing an alternative route to switch off from it. A set of memes has also been produced covering a range of messages about why filming and sharing fights is damaging.

Young people helped develop the campaign through focus groups and feedback sessions involving various schools and youth groups, including pupils from Craigmount High School in Edinburgh.

The campaign has been launched as the first annual progress report for Scotland’s Violence Prevention Framework was published – highlighting progress made to help cut violent crime and reduce the harm it causes.

Key developments in 2023-24 include:

the creation, by the SVRU, of a Violence Anonymous group, the first of its kind in Scotland, to help individuals with significant problems turn their lives around
the extension of MAV’s hospital-based Navigator programme to reach young people in times of crisis, to receive support to steer them away from violence and harm
YouthLink Scotland’s training and resources provided to more than 700 practitioners across the country to provide young people with key messages on violence and knife crime prevention

Speaking at the launch of the new campaign in Edinburgh, Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown said: “While social media can play a positive role in young people’s lives, helping them engage with their friends and family, it can also be a platform where violent imagery is spread. This campaign will encourage young people to switch off and not share harmful content.

“Scotland’s Violence Prevention Framework is making encouraging progress with a number of partner initiatives focused on prevention and early intervention so that communities across Scotland remain safe and more people live free from the threat of violence.”

Tim Frew, CEO YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work, said: “Young people have told us time and time again that they need help to navigate social media. It is crucial that adults who live and work with young people are confident in providing trusting and non-judgemental support.

“As the national agency for youth work, we are proud to have collaborated on this important campaign, embedding a youth work approach to the resources to start the conversation and upskill practitioners working with young people. By working and learning alongside young people, the toolkit supports young people to make informed, positive, and importantly safe, choices online.”

Prof Christine Goodall, Director and Founder of Medics Against Violence, said: “The use of social media to incite violence is something we couldn’t have anticipated 15 years ago but now we see that regularly along with the sharing of distressing images and videos of violence filmed in places that should be safe, such as school playgrounds and community public spaces.

“As health professionals we recognise the impact that may have on encouraging young people to get involved in violence, risking injury, and the long-term psychological impact on those filmed when their images are shared in the online space, without their consent or knowledge.

“This campaign is important to us because we understand from speaking to young people how conflicted they are about social media and the peer pressure they face to join in with image sharing activities. We wanted to produce something that would reflect their views and would support them to take a stand against activity which is both damaging and pervasive.”

Jimmy Paul, Head of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, said: “While the majority of young people in Scotland do not engage in the filming and sharing of violent incidents on social media, as part of our research for this campaign we listened to groups of young people about their experience.

“The Quit Fighting For Likes campaign aims to enable young people to look at attitudes and behaviours regarding social media while pointing towards the toolkit to equip those working with young people to help build positive social norms.”

Quit Fighting For Likes campaign.

First Minister: Social media companies need to address online hate

John Swinney says action is needed to address misinformation, racism and hateful online material

Following disorder in parts of the UK, First Minister John Swinney has written to X, Meta and TikTok to ask what action they are taking to combat the spread of misinformation, and to address racist and hateful material on their platforms:

From: First Minister John Swinney

To: X, Meta and TikTok

This week I met with representatives of faith and refugees groups to show solidarity with communities around the country. They were clear to me about the impact of social media in spreading misinformation, raising alarm and the sense of threat in their communities.

I also met with Scottish political party leaders and Police Scotland representatives to discuss the situation in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Police Scotland described social media posts that contain deliberate misinformation, with provocative and incendiary language with some potentially meeting the threshold for charge under Scotland’s hate crime legislation that came into effect in April this year.

It is clear to me that social media platforms have a duty to take action to ensure that individuals in our society are not subjected to hate and threatening behaviour, and that communities are protected from violent disorder.

I was struck by the communication from Ofcom this week reminding social media companies of their obligation to remove material that incites hatred or violence.

All political parties in Scotland stand together in resisting the prejudice and islamophobia that we have seen on the street in parts of the UK and online.

Everyone has a role in stopping the spread of misinformation. You and your platform have a specific responsibility to do so.

I would therefore be grateful if you could outline the action you are taking to combat the spread of misinformation on your platform and what steps being taken to address racist/hateful speech across your platform. Given the seriousness of the situation action needs to be immediate and decisive.

Police Scotland has specifically raised with me concerns about the time it takes for problematic posts to be removed when these are identified by law enforcement agencies. This increases the risk of spread of malicious content. I would wish to understand the steps you are taking to address this, particularly for content that police identify as illegal or harmful.

I am copying this letter to Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport.

Ofcom: Proposed measures to improve children’s online safety

As the UK’s online safety regulator, we have published a package of proposed measures that social media and other online services must take to improve children’s safety when they’re online:

In this article, Ofcom explain some of the main measures and the difference we expect them to make. Whether you are a parent, carer or someone working with children, this can help you understand what is happening to help children in the UK live safer lives online.

Protecting children is a priority

Protecting children so they can enjoy the benefits of being online, without experiencing the potentially serious harms that exist in the online world, is a priority for Ofcom.

We’re taking action – setting out proposed steps online services would need to take to keep kids safer online, as part of their duties under the Online Safety Act.

Under the Act social media apps, search and other online services must prevent children from encountering the most harmful content relating to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, and pornography. They must also minimise children’s exposure to other serious harms, including violent, hateful or abusive material, bullying content, and content promoting dangerous challenges.

What will companies have to do to protect children online?

Firstly, online services must establish whether children are likely to access their site – or part of it. And secondly, if children are likely to access it, the company must carry out a further assessment to identify the risks their service poses to children, including the risk that come from the design of their services, their functionalities and algorithms. They then need to introduce various safety measures to mitigate these risks.

Our consultation proposes more than 40 safety measures that services would need to take – all aimed at making sure children enjoy safer screen time when they are online. These include:

Robust age checks – our draft Codes expect services to know which of their users are children in order to keep protect them from harmful content. In practice, this means that all services which don’t ban harmful content should introduce highly effective age-checks to prevent children from accessing the entire site or app, or age-restricting parts of it for adults-only access.
Safer algorithms – under our proposals, any service that has systems that recommend personalised content to users and is at a high risk of harmful content must design their algorithms to filter out the most harmful content from children’s feeds, and downrank other harmful content. Children must also be able to provide negative feedback so the algorithm can learn what content they don’t want to see.
Effective moderation – all services, like social media apps and search services, must have content moderation systems and processes to take quick action on harmful content and large search services should use a ‘safe search’ setting for children, which can’t be turned off and must filter out the most harmful content. Other broader measures require clear policies from services on what kind of content is allowed, how content is prioritised for review, and for content moderation teams to be well-resourced and trained.

What difference will these measures make?

We believe these measures will improve children’s online experiences in a number of ways. For example:

Children will not normally be able to access pornography.
Children will be protected from seeing, and being recommended, potentially harmful content.
Children will not be added to group chats without their consent.
It will be easier for children to complain when they see harmful content, and they can be more confident that their complaints will be acted on.

Our consultation follows proposals we’ve already published for how children should be protected from illegal content and activity such as grooming, child sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as how children should be prevented from accessing pornographic content.

Next steps

Our consultation is open until 17 July and we welcome any feedback on the proposals. We expect to finalise our proposals and publish our final statement and documents in spring next year.

Please submit responses using the consultation response form (ODT, 108.1 KB).