Despite negative headlines and growing concerns about social media’s impact on youth, teens continue to use these platforms at high rates – with some describing their social media use as “almost constant,” according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens.
The survey – conducted Sept. 26-Oct. 23, 2023, among 1,453 13- to 17-year-olds – covered social media, internet use and device ownership among teens.
Here’s a look at the key findings related to online platforms:
The already-alarming proliferation of child sexual abuse images on the internet could become much worse if something is not done to put controls on artificial intelligence tools that generate deepfake photos, a watchdog agency warned on Tuesday.
In a written report, the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation urges governments and technology providers to act quickly before a flood of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse overwhelms law enforcement investigators and vastly expands the pool of potential victims.
“We’re not talking about the harm it might do,” said Dan Sexton, the watchdog group’s chief technology officer. “This is happening right now and it needs to be addressed right now.”
In some cases, kids are using these tools on each other. At a school in southwestern Spain, police have been investigating teens’ alleged use of a phone app to make their fully dressed schoolmates appear nude in photos.
The report exposes a dark side of the race to build generative AI systems that enable users to describe in words what they want to produce — from emails to novel artwork or videos — and have the system spit it out.
If it isn’t stopped, the flood of deepfake child sexual abuse images could bog investigators down trying to rescue children who turn out to be virtual characters. Perpetrators could also use the images to groom and coerce new victims.
WARNING! Apps and websites that use artificial intelligence to undress women in photos are soaring in popularity, according to researchers. In September alone, 24 million people visited undressing websites, according to the social network analysis company Graphika.
Many of these undressing, or “nudify,” services use popular social networks for marketing, according to Graphika. For instance, since the beginning of this year, the number of links advertising undressing apps increased more than 2,400% on social media, including on X and Reddit, the researchers said. The services use AI to recreate an image so that the person is nude. Many of the services only work on women. And what about kids? What will happen. We don’t quite know except that it will be disaster.
For more than a decade, Meta has chosen to aggressively detect and remove images and videos of children being sexually abused and exploited. Because of their efforts, Meta has demonstrated that Messenger and Facebook are misused by individuals sharing illegal child sexual abuse material. Alarmingly, in 2022 alone, Meta reported more than 20 million incidents of offenders sharing these unimaginable images via Facebook and Messenger.
With the default expansion of E2EE across Messenger, images of children being sexually exploited will continue to be distributed in the dark. While child victims are revictimized as images of their abuse circulate, their abusers and the people who trade the imagery will be protected
Plain and simple, losing a child to fentanyl poisoning is beyond devastating. This has certainly been the case for Sam Chapman and his wife, Dr. Laura Berman. Now, they are about to realize what they’ve been working towards since their son died from a fentanyl-laced drug obtained on social media on February 7, 2021, and delivered to his home “like a pizza.”
“Now,” says Chapman, “We’re in Washington DC lobbying for Sammy’s Law, which will create a bridge between technology and parents so we’ll know what’s happening on our kids’ devices should anything dangerous occur.”
Several people(I CALL THEM DISGUSTING CRIMINALS) arranged to meet to pay for sex, receive money for sex, meet with underage girls and boys for sex, and arrange for underage girls to enter human trafficking. The 19 suspects were arrested on various charges related to human trafficking and child exploitation.
ENOUGH. Read more here.
The Warriors have been warning you about this. With the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) and AGI (artificial general intelligence), things are only going to get worse.
Start guarding your privacy NOW.
Please listen to my honest and open discussion with Josephine Crisostomo, Director of Education at LifeWay Network.
There is more slavery today in the United States and around the world than any other time in history.
We must talk about the escalating crimes of human slavery and all forms of exploitation 24/7 365. It is happening in every town, city and rural area in America. No one and no where is exempt.
Join us. Don’t become the next victim. Don’t let your children be exploited.
