Common Sense Media Report.

'Our tests found that both AI Overview and AI Mode failed kids in crisis, including missing clear signs of suicidal ideation, reinforcing signs of psychosis and mania, validating disordered eating including purging, and celebrating cannabis use.

They also provide information that could facilitate bullying by handing over step-by-step instructions for making deepfakes.

Of the two features, AI Mode performed better at detecting some kinds of crisis, suggesting Google already has safer technology it could deploy.'

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A social media ban for under-16s has been announced by the UK government. It will be introduced in early 2027.

The goverment is also considering an overnight curfew and measures to stop infinite scrolling for under-18s.

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Developed by the UK Online Harms Early Warning Working Group, this guidance shares best practice and considerations for education settings and organisations working with children and young people on the use of photos and videos across their online platforms, to address the risk of AI image manipulation.

This document looks at the responsible management, sharing and protection of photographs and videos, particularly those featuring children and young people. This includes images used across education settings’ websites, social media platforms and other digital spaces.

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Think about radicalisation as a process of change where a person undergoes a transformation over a period of time. This can be a gradual change or because of the increasing threat of online radicalisation, one that can also happen quite fast.

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Children are reporting online sextortion attempts in record numbers in the UK.

The Report Remove service, which allows children to flag intimate images or videos of themselves that have appeared, or could appear, online, said it received 394 reports from under-18s last year of blackmail attempts after sending sexual images to predators.

The figure is 34% higher than in 2024.

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An independent game developer for Roblox says he believes the platform's child safety measures, including age verification checks, do not go far enough.

- parents should monitor their children on the platform "24/7, and if that's not possible then they shouldn't be playing Roblox".

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