Oct 28 (edited) • 🌐Important News
What is New in Online Child Safety - October 11th to October 24th, 2025
I am sorry I missed a weekly update, real life got in the way. 😅
Here’s a roundup of the major developments from 11-24 Oct 2025.
1. Lawsuit vs Meta & Snap Inc. by New Mexico AG
Raúl Torrez, Attorney General of New Mexico, is suing Meta and Snap, alleging their platforms have become hubs for child sexual exploitation and predatory behaviour. The complaint points to algorithms, ignored internal warnings, and negligence in design. 🔗TIME
2. Lawsuits vs AI Chatbots and Teen Mental Health
Families are suing AI-chatbot companies including OpenAI and Character.AI for alleged contributions to teen suicides and emotional harm. The complaints claim chatbots acted as confidants, failed to escalate crisis situations, and may have facilitated self‐harm. 🔗NBC4Washington 🔗healthlawadvisor.com 🔗TheGuardian
3. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ramps up scrutiny of AI chatbots and children/teens
U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff publicly urged the FTC to address risks of AI companions for minors. The agency has sent letters/subpoenas and inquiries about how firms measure, test, and protect youth from harm in AI chatbot contexts. 🔗Senator Alex Padilla 🔗Hunton.com
4. New California Legislation on AI & Minors
In response to tragic teen cases linked to AI chatbots, California signed new regulations requiring chatbots to notify users (especially minors) they are not human and to flag suicidal ideation to emergency services. 🔗LeMonde.fr
5. European Commission Investigates Tech Giants Under the Digital Services Act (DSA)
The EU is probing companies like Google LLC, YouTube, Apple Inc. and Snap for how they handle age-verification, harmful content exposure to minors and whether they comply with DSA obligations. 🔗The Wall Street Journal
6. Research Alert: AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
A new academic paper warns of the dangers of generative AI in producing synthetic CSAM, re-victimising survivors, lowering thresholds for offending and normalising sexual exploitation of minors. 🔗arXiv
7. Research on Youth Use of Virtual/Metaverse Environments
Another study found that immersive “metaverse” experiences (VR, AR) may heighten cyber-harm risks for children, underscoring need for safe design, parental oversight and age-appropriate safeguards. 🔗arXiv
8. Parent/Expert Perspectives on AI Companions for Youth
Interviews with parents and experts revealed divergent concerns: parents worry about single high-risk events (self-harm mention, flirtation) while experts look at longer pattern of dependency. Both recommend stronger oversight. 🔗arXiv
9. Parental & Cyber-Awareness Guidance
As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, parents are urged to talk with children about how digital experiences feel, taking breaks, monitoring emotional wellbeing, not just technical controls. 🔗GovTech
10. MrBeast brand criticized over data-collection practices
A watchdog claims a recent sweepstakes campaign collected personal data from children without parental consent — raising COPPA compliance concerns. 🔗TheRecord
Things are moving fast, danger emerges from where you least expect it, keep vigilant!
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What is New in Online Child Safety - October 11th to October 24th, 2025
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