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Children Targeted By Predators Online Surges During Covid-19 Pandemic

Children Targeted by Predators Online Surges During Covid-19 Pandemic

Children forced into online learning and using the internet for play because of the pandemic were put at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse.

In Thailand as well as much of the world, predators have taken advantage of the unprecedented health crisis to target children who do not receive proper online supervision by their parents and caregivers.

There have been unprecedented cases of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Despite this, very few incidents are reported.

In the first four months of the pandemic (between January and April 2020), more than 160,000 cases were recorded by the Thailand Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. About 400,000 children aged 12-17 have been abused and exploited online since last year.

Child abuse cases remain remarkably underreported

According to the recent Disrupting Harm report, only 1-3% of children report their experiences to the police. In the past three months, 10 to 31% of them have not disclosed their most recent incident to anyone. In addition, only 17% of caregivers reported to police if their child was harassed, abused, or exploited online.

Ecpat, Interpol, and the Unicef Office of Research – Innocenti conducted the research.

Psychiatrist Varoth Chotpitayasunondh, the spokesperson for the Department of Mental Health of the Ministry of Public Health, says that children as young as 5-6 are being targeted.

According to him, predators use a variety of tactics to lure child victims. In some instances, they may blackmail them into engaging in sexual activities or sharing their sexual images without their permission.

Some even coerce them by offering them money or gifts to engage in sexual activities. Children are often contacted via social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.

The “grooming” of children is a tactic used by predators. Predators establish relationships with children in order to effectively reach them. “Some adult predators may offer targeted children money for sharing their sexual photos or invite them out to engage in sexual activity in person,” Dr. Varoth told Thai PBS.

According to him, children are often abused by people they know, such as a family member, a boyfriend, a friend, a neighbor, a coach, or a teacher.

According to the psychiatrist, online exploitation of kids and abuse can take place completely online, but it can also occur in person between predators and victims. The report found that 10% of children have met someone they met online in person.

Why don’t the Children inform authorities?

Dr. Varoth believes stigma is one of the most significant barriers keeping victims and survivors from reporting and disclosing online threats, saying that social norms shaped their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards incidents.

The majority of child victims believe they did something wrong or didn’t do something right. Often, they blame themselves for wearing the wrong clothing or for trusting the wrong person. They fear being disbelieved or being blamed for what has happened. What will happen to them? Will friends make fun of them?” the psychiatrist says.

Some of the child victims who do report incidents report feeling held responsible for online abuse and exploitation and seldom consider themselves victims. They believe authorities and society share the same viewpoint.

Additionally, the police investigation techniques they use when questioning them are unfriendly to child victims and survivors. One survivor reported that she was interviewed in the police station at the front desk about her experience of online sexual abuse. When the survivor reported to the police, there were about 10 other people present, including two male officers and five friends.

Many children do not know where to turn if they or a friend are sexually assaulted or harassed, according to Dr. VarothA report found that 47% of children surveyed would not know how to get help in these situations.

Children are unaware that they can report the incident to the police, he says.

Dr. Varothad advises parents and caregivers not to ask for details or to pose ‘why’ questions when their children discuss abuse, stressing that children who have experienced abuse should be supported rather than pressed.

“We should respond actively, but with care,” he says. People should not repeatedly ask abused children the same questions. This perpetuates the abuse. Do not bring it up in front of others. This makes them feel ashamed. It hurts their feelings,” he says, adding that sexually exploited children suffer detrimental effects on their mental, physical, and emotional well-being as a result.

He emphasizes the importance of being patient, listening to them, believing in them, and being supportive in order to help them move forward with their lives.

Aside from getting help from professionals, he advises parents to face the problem honestly and put the blame firmly on the person who committed the abuse.

How to protect children online

Kids have many opportunities for learning, communication, creativity, entertainment, and creativity on the Internet. However, they are also exposed to a multitude of risks.

In order to prevent online sexual exploitation and abuse, Dr. Varoth says that parents and caregivers must teach their children how to protect themselves from those who would harm them and help them grow as digital citizens.

In addition, establish reasonable limits for screen time and content your child can use. Make sure your child has adequate digital literacy and skills to stay safe online.

Furthermore, he added that parents should also upskill themselves to deal with the digital world and keep up to date with technology so that they can assist their children when problems arise.

Many parents who are not familiar with technology fail to teach their children how to cope with online threats. Some kids find it difficult to talk with their parents about the abuse, he explains.

“Parents often do not realize when a child is reporting online sexual abuse, and may not even understand that it is wrong. Therefore, be a wise parent to support your child’s education and well-being. They will trust in you to ask for help,” he explains.

Many state agencies, including the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, and the Department of Mental Health in the Ministry of Public Health, as well as law enforcement agencies and non-government organizations, are working on issues related to online child sexual exploitation and abuse, but more needs to be done.

In order to combat these problems, Dr. Varoth suggests appointing a government body to coordinate and lead on responses and preventions, as well as improving data collection, to make work more effective. It is also imperative that children and caregivers are informed about the risks and their rights, as well as supported through the justice system.

The public and parents need to be educated more about online sexual exploitation and abuse of kids and reporting mechanisms.

In order to better protect kids’ online safety, more collective efforts from all parts of society are necessary, he says.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

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Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

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Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

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Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

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