Instagram to alert parents if teens repeatedly search self-harm terms
Instagram will start alerting parents if their kids repeatedly search for terms clearly associated with suicide or self-harm.The announcement on Thursday comes as Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is in the midst of two trials over harms to children.A trial under way in Los Angeles questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm minors.Another in New Mexico seeks to determine whether Meta failed to protect kids from sexual exploitation on its platforms.The alerts will only go to parents who are enrolled in Instagram’s parental supervision program.
The company said it already blocks such content from showing up in teen accounts’ search results and directs people to helplines instead.Thousands of families – along with school districts and government entities – have sued Meta and other social media companies claiming they deliberately design their platforms to be addictive and fail to protect kids from content that can lead to depression, eating disorders and suicide.Meta executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, have disputed that the platforms cause addiction.During questioning at the Los Angeles trial last Wednesday, Zuckerberg said he still agreed with a previous statement he made that the existing body of scientific work has not proved that social media causes mental health harms.The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, took the stand a week earlier and also pushed back on the science behind social media addiction, denying that users could be “clinically addicted”.
Mosseri described children’s high usage of Instagram as “problematic use” – similar to “watching TV for longer than you feel good about”.Psychologists do not classify social media addiction as an official diagnosis, but researchers have documented the harmful consequences of compulsive use among young people, and lawmakers around the world have repeatedly voiced concern about social networks’ addictive potential.Instagram’s new alerts will be sent via email, text or WhatsApp, depending on the parent’s contact information available, as well as a notification through the parent’s Instagram account.Setting up parental supervision on Instagram requires both the teen and their parent to agree by sending an invite through the platform.Teens must be in the 13 to 17 age range, and only one parent is allowed to supervise their child’s account.
“Our goal is to empower parents to step in if their teen’s searches suggest they may need support.We also want to avoid sending these notifications unnecessarily, which, if done too much, could make the notifications less useful overall,” Meta said in a blogpost.Meta said it was also working on similar notifications to parents about their children’s interactions with artificial intelligence.“These will notify parents if a teen attempts to engage in certain types of conversations related to suicide or self-harm with our AI,” Meta said.“This is important work and we’ll have more to share in the coming months.
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Netflix shares jump after walking away from Warner Bros Discovery deal, clearing way for Paramount – business live
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the world economy and the financial markets.Every good drama needs a few twists and turns. And the race for ownership of Warner Bros Discovery has certainly delivered.Overnight, Netflix has walked way from the deal, declining to match a new, improved takeover offer from its rival, Paramount Skydance.Netflix’s hopes were blown away by Paramount lifting its offer for the whole of Warner Bros to $31 per share, beating Netflix’s bid of $27
Ocado failing to deliver on its potential as one of UK’s great technology hopes
Only six years ago, the boss of Ocado Group was writing the obituary for supermarkets as he predicted that a surge in online grocery shopping during the pandemic had brought forward the hi-tech future.“Not every store will disappear, but there will be a dramatic shift,” Tim Steiner said at the height of the Covid pandemic, when shopping from the sofa became the only option for many.Fast-forward to today and the prospect seems distant as the UK grocery technology group again slashes jobs as it battles heavy losses.Shares in the group slumped more than 6% to 220p on Thursday, as it revealed worse than expected annual losses and 1,000 job cuts, half of which are in research and development. At that price, shares are 22% above Ocado’s stock market float price of 180p in 2010 and a staggering 90% lower than their pandemic peak
Woman at heart of US trial says she was addicted to social media at age six
The young woman at the heart of the landmark trial about the addictive nature of social media testified for the first time on Thursday, saying she got hooked on YouTube starting at age six and Instagram at nine. By the time she was 10, she said, she had become depressed and was engaging in self-harm.The woman, who is now 20 and known by her initials KGM, is the lead plaintiff in an expansive lawsuit against YouTube and Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook. The crux of the case alleges social media companies intentionally create addictive products, leading to mental health issues in young people.KGM testified on Thursday that her use of social media made her anxious and insecure, and features like beauty filters distorted her self-image
Riaz Hasan obituary
My father, Riaz Hasan, who has died aged 87, was a water resources engineer with a distinguished career working across 40 countries – in the 1970s with the British firm Halcrow and, from the 80s, at the UN and the World Bank.Originally from Hyderabad, Riaz arrived in the UK in 1965 with £3 and an A–Z, invited, like many engineers in India at that time, by the government. After completing a master’s degree in water resources at Bradford University, where he developed a love of Yorkshire pudding and received his degree from Harold Wilson (which he described as a real privilege), he embarked on his career designing life-saving, long-term water and food solutions for the most vulnerable and those affected by war, famine and natural disasters.Born in the small town of Warangal, near Hyderabad, to Mohammed, an English professor, and his wife, Khadija, Riaz went to Nizam college. He did his engineering degree at Osmania University, graduating in 1960, then got his first job at the Central Water Power Commission (CWPC) in Delhi
Australia v India: second women’s one-day cricket international – live
A perfect yorker from Kashvee catches Healy’s back foot and deflects on to the stumps. A disappointing way to go for the captain, but a great ball from Kashvee – her first ODI wicket.4th over: Australia 20-0 (Healy 6, Litchfield 14)Healy gets her first look at the strike since the first over and starts by punching one over midwicket – but not very far over! It just evades a diving Jemimah to run away for four. She scales back her risk-taking endeavours after that, with three dot balls in a row before a nice pull shot finds the gap and she gets Litchfield back on strike for a harmless defensive shot to end the over.3rd over: Australia 15-0 (Healy 1, Litchfield 14)Kashvee resumes her spell after a tight first over
Birmingham City’s owners explore moving into rugby union and buying Prem franchise
Birmingham City’s owner, Knighthead Capital Management, is among a number of American investors exploring the purchase of potential new franchises in Prem Rugby before a radical shake-up of the sport due to be ratified by the Rugby Football Union on Friday.The RFU council will vote at Twickenham on proposals to ringfence the 10-team Prem with no promotion or relegation until 2030, when a staged expansion is planned, beginning with the addition of two more teams.While former top-flight sides such as London Irish, Wasps and Worcester Warriors as well as ambitious Champ clubs like Ealing Trailfinders will be given the opportunity to apply, Prem Rugby is also keen to secure new additions. New York-based merchant bank, The Raine Group, and Deloitte have been engaged with a brief to discuss franchise opportunities with potential new owners, as well as bringing new investment into Prem Rugby itself.Knighthead is understood to have expressed interest in acquiring a franchise as the next stage of its multisport strategy that has seen it buy a 49% share in the Birmingham Phoenix Hundred franchise, and a majority share in Netball Super League club Birmingham Panthers
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