On February 13th, 2019 the City of Los Angeles declared Social Media Safety Day while recognizing the efforts of the Organization for Social Media Safety. Several councilmembers spoke up to commemorate OFSMS and the necessary awareness this day brought to the issue of social media-related dangers. On Social Media Safety Day, several motions were introduced in…
Read MoreWatch Out For: Social Media-Fueled Eating Disorders
Each month we alert you to a site or trend that you need to be aware of to protect your teenaged social media users. This month we are warning you about: Eating Disorders. While many are generally familiar with what eating disorders are, many parents may not realize how social media can exacerbate eating disorders and contribute to an…
Read MoreTip of the Month: Physical Inspections
We know that it is very challenging to teach teens about both the lack of privacy and the permanence of their messages, posts, DMs, tweets, and snaps. But, we have a way that will help you teach them…. As we remind you often, your teens are on their phones and social media on average 9 hours a day. That…
Read MoreTip of the Month: Block and Report
It is simple. It is intuitive. It can make social media safer for us all. But, most adults and teens are not doing it: blocking and reporting obscene, hateful, and threatening content. Cyberbullying, hate speech, sexual harassment, propaganda are just some of the social media-related dangers that come in the form of posts, comments, or…
Read MoreWatch Out For: Cyber Self-Harm
Each month we alert you to a site or trend that you need to be aware of to protect your teenaged social media users. This month we are warning you about: Cyber Self-Harm. This month we are alerting you to a social media-related danger that many parents may not have considered before: cyber self-harm. In 2013, Hannah Smith,…
Read MoreFrom the Director
Last month, I discussed deepfake technology and our efforts to prevent malicious pornographic deepfakes. But, as our presidential election season nears, I wanted to highlight the very serious, looming threat that deepfakes also pose to our democracy. Again, deepfakes are forged or fake videos created via artificial intelligence where a person’s likeness, including their face and voice, is realistically…
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