New Mexico Alleges Kids On Facebook, Instagram Are Often Sexually Harassed
Newly unredacted material about Meta's child-safe policies is showing up during a lawsuit filed by New Mexico that alleges failures to protect young users of the social media platforms. Separately, Iowa is suing video social media platform TikTok over inappropriate content shown to children.
The Wall Street Journal:
Children On Instagram And Facebook Were Frequent Targets Of Sexual Harassment, State Says
Children using Instagram and Facebook have been frequent targets of sexual harassment, according to a 2021 internal Meta Platforms presentation that estimated that 100,000 minors each day received photos of adult genitalia or other sexually abusive content. That finding is among newly unredacted material about the company’s child-safety policies in a lawsuit filed last month by New Mexico that alleges Meta’s platforms recommend sexual content to underage users and promote underage accounts to predatory adult users. (Blunt and Horwitz, 1/17)
Reuters:
Iowa Sues TikTok Alleging Parents Misled About Inappropriate Content
Iowa's attorney general on Wednesday sued TikTok, accusing the video-based social media platform of misleading parents about their children's access to inappropriate content on the company's app. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird in a lawsuit, opens new tab filed in a state court in Polk County accused TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance of lying about the prevalence on its platform of content including drugs, nudity, alcohol and profanity. (Raymond and Shephardson, 1/17)
Reuters:
Mother Whose Child Died In TikTok Challenge Urges US Court To Revive Lawsuit
A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday wrestled with whether the video-based social media platform TikTok could be sued for causing a 10-year-old girl's death by promoting a deadly "blackout challenge" that encouraged people to choke themselves. Members of a three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted during oral arguments that a key federal law typically shields internet companies like TikTok from lawsuits for content posted by users. (Raymond, 1/17)
In other news about youth health —
Reuters:
Montana Supreme Court Denies Bid To Pause Landmark Youth Climate Ruling
The Montana Supreme Court has refused to pause a landmark ruling that found that the state's policies prohibiting regulators from considering the impacts on climate change when approving fossil fuel projects violate the rights of young people. The high court said in a 5-2 ruling on Tuesday that the state had not shown a lower court abused its discretion when it refused to stay its August ruling in favor of 16 young people who said their health and futures are jeopardized by climate change, which the state aggravates through its permitting of energy projects. (Mindock, 1/17)
Politico:
Youth Tackle Football Ban Dead After Newsom Vows Veto
California lawmakers on Wednesday shelved a proposal that would have banned youth tackle football a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom took the unusual step of saying he would veto the bill if it reached his desk. Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, the bill’s author and a candidate for mayor of Sacramento, said he would not continue advancing the legislation, which cleared its first committee hearing last week and was expected to get a floor vote as soon as this week. (He and Bluth, 1/17)
CBS News:
New Bill Would Give California Parents More Control Over Whether State Can Store Their Kid's DNA
Should you have the right to know that the state is storing your child's DNA and that researchers or law enforcement may use it without your consent? This is an issue Julie Watts has been investigating for years, and today, parents are one step closer to getting that right. Most parents have no idea that California has been storing a DNA sample from every baby born here since the 80s. A bill that passed out of the state senate judiciary committee this week could change that. (Watts, 1/17)
The 19th:
Nearly 1 In 10 Teenage Girls Have Turned To Pills For Weight Loss, Research Shows
Nearly 1 in 10 adolescent girls have used non-prescription pills to lose weight, according to new research. The report, an analysis of English-language research, noted that teenage girls in North America were the most likely group to have used these so-called weight loss aids, and pointed out that these tendencies — and the mindset driving them — raise the risks for eating disorders and overall harm to physical and mental health. (Gerson, 1/17)
The Washington Post:
School Policing And Mental Health Services Decline, Report Finds
The report found that the overwhelming majority of schools increased social and emotional supports for students affected by the coronavirus, but that fewer schools provided treatment and diagnosis of mental health disorders. (Meckler and Natanson, 1/17)
Fox News:
Heart Disease Risk Increases For Young Adults Who Have Lost A Sibling, Study Finds
People who lose a sibling during childhood or early adulthood could be at a higher risk of developing heart disease at an early age, a new study found. Researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong evaluated more than two million people in Denmark who were born between the years 1978 and 2018. Based on 17 years of follow-up data, the researchers found that sibling death in childhood and early adulthood was associated with a 17% increased overall risk of cardiovascular disease. (Rudy, 1/18)
