In the News

From primary school kids to footballers and celebrities - everyone's doing the mannequin challenge. In case you've been banned from using social media for a few days it's the art of... standing still.

A new application that promises to be the "Photoshop of speech" is raising ethical and security concerns.

The toolkit has been developed with support from young people and Twitter UK. It includes ideas for your social media activity and details about plans in the run up to and during the week.

If you’re thinking about investing in a tablet or smartphone for your child this Christmas, there are a few things you should check before you stick down the Sellotape…

Privacy campaigners this week applauded Facebook’s decision to block big UK insurance firm Admiral from using young people’s social media data to help set their car insurance premiums. But this is just the start of a debate over the use of social media information for such purposes.

Children as young as seven are being investigated for sexting in schools. A total of 1,581 pupils out of 5,032 in Nottinghamshire said they had received a message with unwanted sexual suggestions.

Children should be taught about the realities of pornography and online grooming before they reach puberty, when they will start accessing sexually explicit materials for themselves, the shadow women and equalities minister has said.

It has given a voice to a generation, and helped unite people and communities far and wide. But social media is not always used as a force for good.

Automatic defences to stop hackers hijacking websites or spoofing official domains will get a boost from a £1.9bn government cybersecurity strategy. Other defences that intercept booby-trapped emails or shut down thieves impersonating bank websites will also be expanded.

A BBC investigation has found that thousands of young women in conservative societies across North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia are being shamed or blackmailed with private and sometimes sexually explicit images

Prince William is considering a flight to California to meet Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to a report from The Sunday Times.

How could a webcam help bring down some of the world’s most popular websites? It seems unlikely but that’s what happened recently when hackers attacked the internet infrastructure run by US firm Dyn, knocking out services including Paypal, Twitter and Netflix.

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are the most secure chat platforms, according to Amnesty International. But that decision has already met with scepticism from people in the technology community, some of whom have warned that it might not be safe to use the apps at all.

Jenni Murray’s recent suggestion of analysing pornography in the classroom might raise some eyebrows, but with up to 60% of young people using porn to teach themselves about sex, she’s right that schools should not ignore it

Internet Watch Foundation says a web page showing a child being sexually abused is identified by a watchdog every eight minutes.

What is a "bring your own device" policy and should your school be introducing one? Teacher educator Sarah Wright answers these questions and more in the latest installment in her series of quick explainers

OVER a third of 13 to 15 year old students have been sent explicit images on their phones, according to a recent report. The report also shows that less than half of the students knew who the sender was, and only a quarter had asked for it.

This year’s Get Safe Online Day takes place on Tuesday October 18th. The awareness campaign will urge the UK public and small businesses to make every day safer by treating online security as essential ‘life admin’.

The media may be new, but the punitive messages and appetites remain the same. Today’s tech simply provides new outlets for the worst behaviour

PARENTS are being warned to check their children's social media accounts after a primary school pupil was sent messages encouraging her to send pictures of herself.