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Australia Bans Social Media for Under-16yr olds With World-First Law In a world-first, the Australian government has just passed into law a groundbreaking social media ban for children aged under 16yrs setting a benchmark for other countries around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech firms. The Australian Senate passed the bill on Thursday 34 votes to 19. The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the legislation by 102 votes to 13. The House on Friday endorsed opposition amendments made in the Senate, making the bill law. The new law forces social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Reddit and TikTok to stop children under 16 years of age from holding social media accounts. Failure to do so could result in fines for the social media firms of up to A$49.5 million (€31 million). A trial of methods will start in January 2025 with the ban to take full effect in a year. However, the ban will not apply to all platforms operating in the social media space with some exemptions applying for health and education services such as YouTube, Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Kids Helpline and Google Classroom for example. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the new law supported parents concerned by online harms to their children. "Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them," Albanese told reporters. The platforms have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced. Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the legislation had been "rushed." #Chirp #Chirpfamily #Protectingchildrenonline

New survey claims that many children regularly lie about their age online in order to join social media platforms. According to a survey conducted by the UK Communication regulator OfCom, 22% of 8-17-year-olds lie about their age online, claiming to be 18 years old on social media platforms. This is despite the fact that many of the social media platforms in the UK are now required by law to enforce their age limits to protect children online. The survey suggests that most children in the 8-17yr age group have their own profile on social media platforms, with 12% having accounts on Discord, and 11% on YouTube. Besides having their own profile, the surveyed children in this age group also had more than one profile on certain social media platforms: #10% of children between 8-12 years had more than one profile on Snapchat. #12% of children between 13-15 years had more than one profile on Pinterest. #23% of children in the 16-17yr age range were more likely to have more than one profile on Instagram. While children are lying about their age online, OfCom also found an increase in platforms asking children in this age group to prove their age. “This was more common among 8-12-year-olds, increasingly so on Facebook (16% to 39%), Instagram (17% to 32%),” compared to a year ago, the regulator mentioned. However, despite platforms asking children to prove their age, 8-12-year-olds are still using the platforms underage the regulator found. Increasingly, countries across the world are becoming more focused on online child safety. Just like the UK, in the US, lawmakers were working on bringing in place regulations to verify the age of internet users both at the state and federal levels. In Australia, the government is seeking to restrict children (under 14) from accessing social media. Meanwhile, in India, the government notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 which requires platforms to obtain “verifiable parental consent” before processing the data of anyone under the age of 18. Ofcom’s survey reveals that at least so far, children are bypassing platforms’ attempts to age-gate themselves. This raises questions about the effectiveness of age-gating measures globally. A full copy of the Ofcom survey and its findings can be found via the link below 👇 #Chirp #Chirpfamily #Protectingchildrenonline https://lnkd.in/eC8DmXmm

Congratulations to all the winners.

On behalf of our amazing team at Chirp and our partners at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and ADAPT Centre a huge thanks to the jury, Mark Kelly AI Keynote Speaker and team at the AI Awards Ireland for this incredible honour. In building our domain specific multi-modal SLM’s in the three problem areas of cyber bullying, grooming and suicide/self-harm content, responsible AI practices and ethical considerations are paramount, particularly when dealing with children’s data. This award is a welcome recognition of our efforts to build a safe, ethical and compliant solution to protect children when they use their smartphones. Mark Langan Lisa Hughes Feargal Harrington Patrick Ryan Brian Davis James O. Jane Dunne Amárach Research

Just about recovered from an incredible but intense few days at Slush in Helsinki as part of the Enterprise Ireland delegation. A huge thanks to the team at EI for making it a major success with a whopper list of follow ups. Special thanks to Ambassador Paul Sherlock for opening his home for a hopping party (brave man) and to Viktor Heide James McDonagh Dennis Scheff Donnchadh Cullinan In true Irish fashion though, the Green geansaís were in full swing with our own countrymen and women eager to give each other a leg up ☘️ see you all again next year…. Rosanne Longmore Maoiliosa O'Culachain Shane Kerins Ciaran McNamee Margaret Rae Ryan L. Brian Marrinan Ciaran Treanor Chris Oh Esra Özbay Homeyra Abrishamkar John O'Loughlin Brendan O'Brien Jason Lynch

Connect With Chirp! Would you like to learn more about Chirp and our plans to help make the internet a safer place for children to visit and use? If so, then be sure to connect with us across all our social media channels. By following us, you will be the first to know about our latest news, events and product development. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you across all our social media channels. #Chirp #Chirpfamily #Protectingchildrenonline

Diamonds in the ice: The Irish businesses at Slush 2024 One of the world’s largest gatherings of venture capital Slush in Helsinki will play host to some of Ireland’s best digital start-ups, including: Konree Innovation, Sonalake, Numra, Cytidel, Vaultree, Tracworx, DevAlly, Lua Health, Spanish Point Technologies, Galvia AI, Manna Drone Delivery, EVERYANGLE, Ardanis, Provizio, Chirp, Coroflo, VRAI , W4 Games, RDI Hub, Equal1, Binarii Labs, Oblivious, CitySwift and Outmin #irish #tech #startups #funding #entrepreneurs Enterprise Ireland Slush https://lnkd.in/eyb5ZBnS

It was great to reconnect with the talented AI community at the Oracle Ireland roundtable for Scale-Ups in the Mayson Hotel, Dublin, expertly hosted by Mark Kelly AI Keynote Speaker Key takeaways from the event: - Scaling Ireland's AI Ecosystem: Insights from Anna-Marie Turley in Enterprise Ireland on fostering growth and innovation & funding available - Scale-Up Panel: Inspiring discussions with AudioSource, Inc., Joulica, and Chirp on scaling strategies, partnerships, and ground-breaking AI solutions. - Go-to-Market Mastery: Cian Hughes and Carl Murray shared invaluable tips on effective go-to-market strategies for founders. - OCI for Scale-Ups: Our own Leah Hadeed and Peter Rogers shed light on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's key use cases and our Scale-Up partnership program. Want to join us for the next event? Connect to stay updated. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussion Thomas Kinsella Liam Óg McGovern Daniel Geoghegan Conor O'Harte Rohit Patole Antonine Gibbons Eoghan Kerton Nathan Moloney Rena Maycock Tony McCormack John O'Connell

Enterprise Ireland is today leading a delegation of 24 innovative Irish companies to Slush (Finland), the world’s largest gathering of venture capital. Over half (14) of the delegation is fundraising, with plans to collectively raise over €250 million in VC funding, with Slush, being a vital touch point for the international VC community.   Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland said “we are leading our largest delegation of Irish companies to Slush, to connect with global investors, strategic partners, and industry leaders in the Nordics to propel the growth of these Irish companies to the next level.” Read more https://shorturl.at/7mmXX Enterprise Ireland Nordics | Konree Innovation | Sonalake | Numra | Cytidel | Vaultree | Tracworx | DevAlly | Lua Health | Spanish Point Technologies | Galvia AI | Manna Drone Delivery | EVERYANGLE | Ardanis | Provizio | Chirp | Coroflo | VRAI | W4 Games | RDI Hub | Equal1 | Binarii Labs | Oblivious | CitySwift | Outmin

UK Government says that a ban on Social Media for teenagers is under consideration. A ban on social media for under 16yr old's is “on the table” if Tech companies do not take appropriate action to protect children, says Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary for the UK government. Kyle made the stark warning earlier this week while preparing to tell Ofcom (who are the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries in the UK) to be more assertive with Tech firms, as both he and the regulator ready themselves for new legal powers in the Online Safety Act which are due to come into effect from the start of 2025. The Act will see new safety duties placed on social media platforms for the first time, requiring them to protect users, and in particular children, from harmful content. This will include a crackdown on under 13yr old's having access to age-restricted content. Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, Mr. Kyle suggested the UK would have to move to “another level of regulation” if tech companies do not get together to enforce the Act. The Technology Secretary said he did not want to pursue further law changes until he sees how the Online Safety Act works. But he signaled he had been speaking to politicians from Australia where social media restrictions for under 16yr old's are currently being proposed. Asked if the UK could push its age limits up to 16 years of age, Mr. Kyle told the Telegraph: “When it comes to keeping young people safe, everything is on the table.” #Chirp #Chirpfamily #Protectingchildrenonline Chirpfamily.com