To understand the reach of pro–eating disorder content, researchers identified 153 “seed accounts” that were public, had over 1,000 followers, and expressly advocated for disordered eating. They calculated that approximately 1.6 million Instagram users followed one of these accounts, and 88,655 followed three or more. The researchers found that almost 20 million Instagram users followed at least one of those 88,655 accounts, and might be prompted to follow the seed accounts because they had a mutual connection.
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Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) today introduced the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA, egislation to update online data privacy rules for the 21st century and ensure both children and teenagers are protected online. The legislation updates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by prohibiting internet companies from collecting personal information from anyone 13- to 15-years old without the user’s consent; creating an online “Eraser Button” by requiring companies to permit users to eliminate personal information from a child or teen; and implementing a “Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Minors” that limits the collection of personal information from teens. The bill also establishes a first-of-its-kind Youth Privacy and Marketing Division at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will be responsible for addressing the privacy of children and minors and marketing directed at children and minors.
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All children should be screened for anxiety starting as young as 8 years old, government-backed experts recommended, providing fresh guidance as doctors and parents warn of a worsening mental-health crisis among young people in the pandemic’s wake.
The draft guidance marks the first time the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has made a recommendation on screening children and adolescents for anxiety. The task force, a panel of independent, volunteer experts that makes recommendations on matters such as screening for diabetes and cancer, also reiterated on Tuesday its 2016 guidance that children between ages 12 and 18 years old should be screened for major depressive disorder.
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Bark tells us that’s it’s important that you know who your child is talking to and what to do if they’re ever contacted by a predator. Here’s everything you need to know. #Parenting #OnlineSafety
How can you prevent this? Take action. Learn more. #BeAWarrior
Three men pleaded guilty as part of Operation Blooming Onion, a massive federal investigation into forced labor in Georgia.
Javier Sanchez Mendoza Jr., 24, allegedly recruited a Mexican migrant laborer bound for farm work in Georgia, brought her to live with him in his mobile home in Jesup, and repeatedly raped her for more than a year after making her believe they’d somehow been married, according to the feds.
All the while, the woman worked at his home, collected pine straw, received wire funds from other worker recruits so Mendoza wouldn’t personally get the payments, and helped with payroll. While the woman was eventually able to flee after being threatened and intimidated, Mendoza tracked her down while she was babysitting children at another home, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia said in a press release last Thursday. Mendoza then allegedly kidnapped her at knifepoint.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued two Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to TikTok Inc. This investigation focuses on TikTok’s potential facilitation of human trafficking and child privacy violations, as well as other potential unlawful conduct.
“Chinese-owned company TikTok may be complicit in child exploitation, sex trafficking, human trafficking, drug smuggling and other unimaginable horrors,” Attorney General Paxton said. “I will get to the bottom of these concerns and make sure Big Tech doesn’t interfere with the safety and security of Texans.”
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Sarah Lawrence College sex-cult leader Larry Ray was convicted Wednesday afternoon on all counts by a Manhattan jury — ending a yearslong prosecution launched after the fiend’s tyrannical abuse of a group of young people was exposed in a magazine article. Ray, 62, faces life in prison when he is sentenced by Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Liman in September. The convicted sex trafficker stood and faced the jury, appearing emotionless as the foreperson repeated “guilty” to the 15 counts. The panel deliberated for about five hours after being given the case Tuesday evening. Throughout the monthlong trial, prosecutors and victims painted Ray as a calculating predator who asserted control over a group of college students and others to enrich himself as the leader of a criminal organization he dubbed “The Ray Family.”
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