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Saturday reading: child safety gaps in games, Ofcom in court and California's new laws

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What I'm reading in Trust & Safety with my Saturday morning coffee ☕

1. BBC: Australia finds "significant" child safety gaps on Steam, Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft

eSafety found Fortnite and Minecraft still mostly rely on self-declared age, and Valve was the only one not using industry-standard tech to detect known harmful content. Age assurance is the foundation here, because every other safeguard assumes you know who's a kid.

https://lnkd.in/er_Tce7u

2. Meta, X, and TikTok are challenging Ofcom’s information requests under the Online Safety Act in court. They are seeking a hearing on Monday. If the powers of regulators are limited, they will end up relying on platforms’ word instead of verifying the information.

https://lnkd.in/er9CyBNS

3. KATV: Experts Raise Concerns About California’s New Online Safety Laws for Children

The new regulations prohibit addictive feeds and mandate AI intervention when self-harm signals are detected. However, some mental health experts express skepticism about their effectiveness. While mandating “detect and intervene” is straightforward, accurately identifying and addressing self-harm in a child at 2 am presents significant challenges.

https://lnkd.in/ewnyJr26

What's on your reading list this weekend?

#TrustAndSafety #OnlineSafety #GamingSafety #AgeAssurance #ChildSafety

In the handbook

6. Child safety and age assuranceHow do you keep children safe on a product adults use too?
16. Regulation and complianceWhich laws apply to your service, and what do they make you do?

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