Hey everyone — here’s a quick digest of major developments in child safety online over the past week. Key Stories You Should Know: 1. Meta tightens AI rules in response to leaks Internal documents revealed how Meta trains its chatbots to handle sensitive topics involving children (like child sexual exploitation). They’re now adopting stricter rules forbidding roleplay involving minors and romantic content.🔗 [Business Insider] 2. Instagram safety tools falling short, whistleblowers say A new report found that ~64% of Instagram’s “teen safety” tools can be bypassed. Adults were able to message underage users and harmful content filters failed during tests.🔗 [The Guardian]🔗[Reuters] 3. FTC launches investigation into AI chatbots & child safety The FTC has sent letters to major tech firms — including Meta, OpenAI, Snap — demanding details on how they mitigate harm to minors using their chatbots as companions.🔗 [AP News] 4. Lawsuit over AI’s role in teen suicide resurfaces The story of the Raine v. OpenAI lawsuit continues to ripple. It alleges ChatGPT’s interactions pushed a teen into isolation and despair by acting as his primary emotional confidant.🔗 [Washington Post] As we can see, yes things seem to be moving towards the right path, but nothing compares to an alert parent. Let's keep doing our job, demanding improvements in both businesses and legislation.

Hey everyone! I'm Jamie from Virginia Beach. I'm not having any issues at the moment, my wife and I are on the same page when it comes to technology, but our kids are only 5 and 2 and I know things are only going to get worse in this area. So with that, I'm looking to learn as much as I can and help out with what I've learned as well. Excited to learn and grow with everyone!

Hey everyone — some important updates from the last week around online child safety. We can see both the urgent risks and what’s being done to hold platforms accountable. 🔍 What’s Going On 1. FTC Demands Answers from Big Tech The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has sent formal orders to seven major AI/products companies — including Meta, OpenAI, Snap, xAI, Character.AI, Alphabet — asking them to detail how they test, monitor, and limit negative effects of their chatbots on children and teens. This includes things like how they handle user input, protection from harmful content, and how they monetize engagement.🔗 Source: Reuters 2. Parents’ Testimonies About AI Harms Grieving parents took to Congress to share tragic stories: children who used AI chatbots experienced romantic or sexualized conversations with bots, or had self-harm or suicidal ideation suggested by bots. These firsthand accounts are pushing for stronger laws and clearer obligations for AI platforms.🔗 Source: AP News 3. OpenAI Introduces New Teen Safeguards In response to growing concerns, OpenAI rolled out safety features aimed at teen users of ChatGPT: age-based filtering, parental controls, alerts if the system detects self-harm or suicidal content, and restricting graphic sexual content. This is a big step, but many say regulation should keep pace.🔗 Source: Wired 4. Meta’s Hidden Research & Whistleblower Allegations Internal research reportedly showed children facing grooming, bullying, and sexual misconduct in Meta’s VR platforms (like “Horizon Worlds”). Whistleblowers allege Meta suppressed those findings or delayed them, raising serious questions about transparency and corporate responsibility.🔗 Source: Washington Post

So, let me tell you guys a little bit of the story of how we got here. About one year ago I was invited to give a webinar about cybersecurity for parents at a friend's daughter school. It was a huge success, everybody loved it, stayed over 1 hour after the scheduled time to ask questions and compliment. A couple days later, 2 other schools reached out and offered to pay for me to present it in person. At the time I had a very complicated schedule and could not do it, but the importance and acceptance of this subject stuck with me. Fast forward almost 1 year and I decided to build an online course for it, and then I learned about Skool and it was perfect for this idea I had where, in the end, a community would probably bring much more value in the long term than simply one course. So here we are, we have a community and 3 planned courses, halfway done with the first of them. But I question if this is the best route, if more courses is what we all need, or maybe we should go another route and prioritize community events and rituals, like periodic calls and guests, or even something that has not been brought up yet. Which brings us to this post, I would love to hear from you, what is it that you would like the most? What do you feel is urgently lacking? What whould make you come here daily to read and participate? Please feel free to say it, there will be no judging, the goal here is to build something for the members above anything else 🙂

Hey everyone — here are this week’s top online child safety updates, with sources you can check. 1. FTC Probes AI Chatbots: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into major AI companies—Meta, OpenAI, Snap, Alphabet, Character.AI, etc.—to see how they protect children from harm in chatbots. (Reuters) 2. Meta Whistleblowers Expose Suppressed VR Harms: Former Meta employees say internal safety research was hidden, including findings that showed children were exposed to grooming, harassment, and violence in its VR platforms. (The Guardian) 3. French Lawmaker Demands Criminal Action vs TikTok: A French MP has called for a criminal probe into TikTok, claiming that its algorithms are harming minors. Proposals include banning social media for under-15s and imposing night curfews for teens. (The Guardian) 4. Attorneys General Warn OpenAI & Others Over Chatbot Safety: Safety concerns from children and teens interacting with chatbots prompted attorneys general to issue warnings. They say safeguards have been insufficient and are pushing for stronger protections. (AP News) 💬 My takeaway: Tech keeps moving fast, and companies and regulations are always one step behind. This means we, as parents, have to stay a step ahead — keeping the conversation open, checking settings, watching our kids and teaching them how to navigate this world safely. 👉 What do you think — which of these updates worries you the most?