Social Media

EU age verification app ready as Europe moves to curb children’s social media access

The EU's age verification app for online platforms is ready and will soon be ‌available to use, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday, as member states…

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Greece to ban social media for under-15s from 2027

Greece will ban access to social media for children under the age ‌of 15 from January 1, 2027, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, citing rising anxiety, sleep problems…

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Spain to ban social media access for children under 16

Spain will ban access to social media for minors under 16 and platforms will be required to implement age verification systems, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday as he…

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France’s lawmakers vote to ban social media for under-15s

Lawmakers in France's National Assembly on Monday passed a bill that would ban children under 15 years old from usingsocial media. They voted 116 to ⁠23 in favor the bill.…

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UK mulls Australia-style ban on social media for children

Britain is considering a range of measures to better protect children online, including an Australian-style ban on social media for those below a certain age and tougher guidance for use…

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Tory Plans for Safer Social Media: A Game Changer?

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch announced plans to raise the "age of consent" for social media to protect children from harmful online content. This measure exceeds previous proposals like banning smartphones…

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Australia social media ban set to take effect, sparking a global crackdown

Australia is set to become the first country to implement a minimum age for social media use on Wednesday, with platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube forced to block more…

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Australia says the world will follow social media ban as Meta starts blocking teens

Australia's internet regulator said a teen social media ban would be the first domino to fall in a global push to rein in Big Tech, as Meta's Instagram, Facebook and…

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EU Parliament pushes for age limits on social media to safeguard minors

The European Parliament called on Wednesday for the European Union to set minimum ages for children to access social media, to combat a rise in mental health problems among adolescents…

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Three Policy Divides That Could Derail Europe’s Social Media Crackdown

Getting kids to spend less time on social media is now a major priority for politicians across the European Union. But countries are far from being on the same page…

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Denmark aims to ban social media for children under 15

The Danish government wants to introduce a ban on several social media platforms for children under the age of 15, as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced Tuesday. “Mobile phones and…

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EU Commission to ‘leave doors open’ for social media ban

The European Commission is “leaving all doors open” to shield children from the harmful effects of social media platforms including age restrictions at the EU level, spokesperson Thomas Regnier told…

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Five EU states to test age verification app to protect children

France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Greece will test a blueprint for an age verification app to protect children online, the European Commission said, amid growing global concern about the impact…

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Brazil rules social media platforms liable for users’ posts

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that social media companies can be held accountable for some types of content published by users on their platforms. The decision could clear the…

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EU Broadens Efforts to Shield Children from Social Media Exposure

The European Union would become a world leader in stopping kids from using social media under a new proposal gaining traction in Brussels. The proposal, which is being spearheaded by…

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Study shows few effective age controls at social media firms

Meta Platforms, TikTok, Snapchat and other leading social media platforms probably have more than 1 million underage users in Australia, a regulatory report said, highlighting the scale of policy failure…

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Greece presents strategy to combat youth internet addiction

The Greek government announced on Monday a national strategy to protect minors from internet addiction and excessive social media use. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said protecting children's well-being was…

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Greece moves to shield children from online dangers

In a move to curb the growing risks associated with social media access for children, the Greek government is rolling out a multi-pronged strategy to protect minors under the age…

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Australia passes social media ban for children under 16

Australia on Thursday passed into law a social media ban for children aged under 16 after an emotive debate that gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the…

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Australia launches ‘landmark’ bill to ban social media for children under 16

Australia's centre-left government on Thursday introduced a bill in parliament that aims to ban social media for children under 16 and proposed fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million)…

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Australia to introduce this month legislation to ban social media for children under 16, PM says

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday his government would introduce this month the legislation to ban social media for children under 16 years. Australia is trialing an age-verification…

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Australia proposes ‘world-leading’ ban on social media for children under 16

The Australian government will legislate for a ban on social media for children under 16, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, in what it calls a world-leading package of…

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Australia plans social media minimum age limit

Australia plans to set a minimum age limit for children to use social media citing concerns about mental and physical health, sparking a backlash from digital rights advocates who warn…

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US Surgeon General calls for social media warning labels to protect adolescents

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a warning label to be added to social media apps as a reminder that those platforms have caused harm to young people, especially…

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Danish PM calls for 15+ age limit for social media in EU

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen wants the European Union to impose an age limit of 15 years old to use social media, in an effort to better shield young smartphone…

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Australian PM says children under 16 should be banned from social media

Anthony Albanese has endorsed banning children from registering social media accounts until they are 16, saying too much online engagement at a young age is seriously damaging their mental health.…

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Florida lawmakers pass bill to ban social media for anyone under 16

By Gabriella Borter (Reuters) - Florida's Republican-controlled legislature has passed legislation that would ban anyone under age 16 from social media platforms in a move that supporters have said would…

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New York Mayor sues social media firms for fueling youth mental health crisis

Adds Google's response in last paragraph (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday that his administration has filed a lawsuit against social media companies including Meta…

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Tech CEOs told ‘you have blood on your hands’ at US Senate child safety hearing

By David Shepardson and Makini Brice WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. senators grilled leaders of the biggest social media companies and said Congress must quickly pass legislation, as one lawmaker accused…

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Meta moves to protect teens from unwanted messages on Instagram, Facebook

Jan 25 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms is building more safeguards to protect teen users from unwanted direct messages on Instagram and Facebook, the social media platform said on Thursday. The…

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Florida lawmakers vote to restrict children’s access to social media

By Steve Gorman (Reuters) - The Florida House of Representatives approved a bill aimed at barring children aged 16 and younger from social media platforms, following similar action in several…

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Italy regulator tightens rules on influencers after Ferragni scandal

ROME, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Italy's communications authority AGCOM has approved stringent new rules to improve transparency on social media posts made by celebrities with mass online audiences. The decision…

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Almost half of British teens feel addicted to social media

Almost half of British teenagers say they feel addicted to social media, according to findings that come amid mounting pressure for big tech companies to be held accountable for the…

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Italy toughens rules on video-sharing platforms to protect minors

Italy's communication watchdog AGCOM has approved new rules enabling it to order online video-sharing platforms to remove "harmful content" to protect minors and consumers in the country, it said. The…

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India warns Facebook, YouTube to enforce rules to deter deepfakes

By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra BENGALURU, (Reuters) - India's government warned social media firms including Facebook and YouTube to repeatedly remind users that local laws prohibit them from posting…

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Brazil could suspend social media sites over school violence content

April 12 (Reuters) - Brazil could fine or suspend social media companies that do not effectively regulate content related to school violence, Justice Minister Flavio Dino said . The new…

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misco Publishes 5th edition of Social Media Usage Trends Survey

Smartphone ownership reached 88% in 2023, laptop and desktop PC usage started to dip post-COVID, 52% of Instagram users follow influencers on the platform and more people than ever (90%)…

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Biden says wants to end social media immunity

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden called on Americans to speak out against racism and extremism during a summit at the White House, and said he would ask Congress…

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Google, Facebook, Twitter to tackle deepfakes or risk EU fines

Alphabet Inc unit Google, Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and other tech companies will have to take measures to counter deepfakes and fake accounts on their platforms or risk hefty fines…

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Elon Musk becomes Twitter’s biggest shareholder with $2.9 billion stock purchase

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has purchased a huge $3 billion stake in Twitter. 'The Guardian' reports that Musk had indicated interest in building his own social media platform just last week. According to filings made…

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TikTok tests age-rated content restrictions

TikTok is working on ways to rate and restrict content by age in order to prevent adult content from reaching teenage users of its short video app, the company said…

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Meta warns Europe it might shut down Facebook, Instagram if no data agreement is reached

Meta Platforms Inc, the company behind social media giants Facebook and Instagram, warned it would consider shutting down the two platforms from the European continent, if it is unable to…

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Financial regulators investigate Trump social media deal

Wall Street's top financial regulators are investigating former U.S. President Donald Trump's $1.25 billion deal to float his new social media venture on the stock market, a filing showed. Digital World Acquisition Corp, the…

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Australia plans to force parental consent for minors on social media

Australia unveiled plans on Monday to make social media companies obtain parental consent for users under the age of 16, with multimillion dollar fines for failing to comply. Draft legislation…

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Australia mulls measures making social media giants responsible for defamatory postings

MELBOURNE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The Australian government is considering a range of measures that would make social media companies more responsible for defamatory material published on their platforms, Communications…

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Anti-vaccine TikTok videos being viewed by children as young as nine

Lies and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which have amassed millions of views and are accessible to young children, have remained on the social media platform TikTok for months after it…

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EU lawmaker says U.S. tech giants should be regulated where they are based

U.S. tech giants such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon should be regulated by the EU country where they are based under proposed EU rules, a top lawmaker said on…

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Russia says Facebook outage shows why it needs internet sovereignty

Russian social networks reported a spike in activity during Monday's global Facebook outage which Moscow officials said showed that Russia was right to develop its own sovereign internet platforms and social networks. Russia has sought…

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Facebook blames “faulty configuration change” for nearly six-hour outage

Facebook Inc blamed a "faulty configuration change" for a nearly six-hour outage on Monday that prevented the company's 3.5 billion users from accessing its social media and messaging services such as…

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Taliban’s Afghanistan takeover presents fresh challenge for social media companies

The Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan poses a new challenge for big U.S. tech companies on handling content created by a group considered to be terrorists by some world governments. Social media giant…

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Twitter sees jump in govt demands to remove content of journalists, news outlets

Twitter Inc saw a surge in demands over the course of last year from governments around the world to take down content posted by journalists and news outlets, data to be…

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UK’s Johnson calls on firms to do more and tackle internet’s ‘dark spaces’

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson planned to tell social media companies in a meeting on Tuesday to do more to tackle online abuse, condemning racist…

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Biden revokes Trump order that sought to limit social media firms’ protections

U.S. President Biden on Friday revoked an executive order by former President Donald Trump that had directed regulators to limit liability protections for social media companies. The White House released…

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English leagues announce social media boycott in stand against online racism

(Reuters) - England's football authorities have joined forces to announce a social media boycott next weekend in response to continued online racist abuse of players. The boycott will take place…

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India unveils tougher rules for social media such as Facebook, Twitter

India announced new rules on Thursday to regulate big social media firms, such as Facebook and Twitter, the latest effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to tighten control over…

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TikTok hit with consumer law breaches complaints across Europe

Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok was hit with multiple complaints from EU consumer groups on Tuesday for allegedly violating the bloc's consumer laws and for failing to protect children from hidden advertising…

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Maltese Editors’ Perspectives

The Times tackles the issue of delayed justice, arguing that increasing complement of judges and magistrates is only part of the solution. The editor however says that a number of…

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