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We've curated some of the most significant initiatives happening in the space from around the world in March 2023 including:
  • AI continuing to dominate online safety headlines as political deepfakes begin to flood online and a prototype camera that converts any image of a person to a nude is released.
  • Research highlighting the challenges for young people navigating online harms including a lack of confidence in the reporting and support systems.
  • Its tough going as regulators work to apply the big regulatory moves of 2023, whilst more big regulation makes progress in the US.
  • The X lawsuit against Centre for Countering Digital Hate is thrown out.
  • Google transparency reporting shows it is removing over 15 million violative adverts a day.

AI Creates an Opportunity to Reset Safety

AI is disrupting everything. Whilst this is a challenge for the online safety industry, it also presents an opportunity to transform as a field of practice.

Through a combination of science fiction storylines and real world harms, AI has created a point of inflection in the history of online safety. One that we can leverage in various ways to develop a more effective and self-sustaining online safety ecosystem.

In our latest article, we explore how we could make substantial gains in harm reduction outcomes by recognising online spaces as complex systems and by approaching safety accordingly.

Emerging

AI nudes camera

Billed as a "speculative design and art project" to provoke discussions on AI - the NUCA prototype camera uses AI to create a nude from photos in under 10 seconds.

VR trapping users

Researchers find security flaw that can be used to control users VR experiences in an "inception attack" and that the majority of users will not notice their session is hijacked.

Political deepfakes
Study finds popular AI image generators create political deepfake images despite on platform prevention efforts and confirm bad actors are already using AI deepfakes for election disinformation.

Research

Children relying on instinct for safety

A Study covering the EU, Asia and South Africa finds children often rely on their instincts to navigate the digital world due to a lack of actual or perceived alternatives, increasing their vulnerability to digital harm.

Young children and violent content
This study by Ofcom finds experiences with violent content start at primary school, are considered unavoidable, and willingness to report is undermined by a lack of trust in the reporting process.

Future of internet dependent on T&S

Duco research finds a rise in AI, new laws and regulations, macroeconomic factors, and news events make increased investment in trust and safety solutions critical for investors and company leaders.

Regulation Roundup

Australia
eSafety issues legal notices to six companies to report on the steps they are taking to protect Australian users from extremist material online - and its clash with X takes a new turn.

USA
Progress is made on a data privacy bill, a new Children's Online Privacy Bill is introduced, whilst the ongoing anti-TikTok push frustrates online privacy and safety advocates.

UK
Ofcom proposes categorisation thresholds to define which technology companies will qualify for the various Online Safety Act compliance levels.

Tech Industry

Ads Safety
Google removed 5.5 billion ads and 12.7 million advertiser accounts for violation of policies in 2023. It also verified over 5,000 election advertisers.

Scaling civility
Roblox uses multimodal AI solutions to scale safety and civility across text, voice, visuals, 3D models and code.

OSX Discussion Paper: The View from DC in November 2023
Our CEO, Martin Cocker has published a discussion paper capturing the key themes of discussions at, and around, the Family Online Safety Institute 2023 Annual Conference.
The discussion paper includes sections exploring AI, Regulation, Social Media and Youth Mental Health, and Online Safety and Economics.

Podcasts

Gather Dispatch
David Ryan Polgar speaks to the Gather team about the challenges for responsible tech and reflects on the growth of his organization All Tech Is Human. (41 mins)

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

Ctrl-Alt-Speech has been co-created by Techdirt’s Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation’s Ben Whitelaw covering covering trust & safety, content moderation, and regulation. (50-60mins)

Extra Analysis and Opinions

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