Twitter leads in child abuse content on social media claims report

Agencies
November 11, 2019

The UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has revealed that nearly half of the child abuse content in the social media space is being shared openly on micro-blogging platform Twitter.

According to a report in The Telegraph that accessed the IWF data, 49 per cent of the images, videos and URL links it found on social media, search engines and cloud services in the last three years were on Twitter - "making up 1,396 of the total 2,835 incidents".

This is a scary incident as the child abuse images and videos slipped through Twitter's filters and were available for anyone to see.

According to the IWF, it helps minimize the availability of online sexual abuse content, specifically child sexual abuse content hosted anywhere in the world. The majority of its work focuses on the removal of child sexual abuse images and videos.

"We search for child sexual abuse images and videos and offer a place for the public to report them anonymously. We then have them removed," it said on its website.

Microsoft's Bing search engine was second in the IWF report, with 604 incidents recorded between 2016 and 2018, followed by Amazon with 375 and Google with 348.

"The IWF found 72 incidents of abuse being openly hosted on Facebook, 18 on its sister site Instagram and 22 on YouTube," said the report.

A Twitter spokesperson replied to the IWF report: "We have serious concerns about the accuracy of these figures and the metrics used to produce them. We will continue to work with the IWF to address their concerns and improve the accuracy of their data".

Susie Hargreaves OBE, CEO of the IWF said that "our data is accurate and recorded fairly and consistently regardless of where we find child sexual abuse material".

Microsoft also questioned the IWF data.

Earlier reports claimed that Microsoft's search engine Bing is still serving child porn, and certain search terms on the platform brought up child porn images and related keywords.

"Microsoft's Bing search engine reportedly still served up child porn, nearly a year after the tech giant said it was addressing the issue.

"The news comes as part of a report in The New York Times that looks at what the newspaper says is a failure by tech companies to adequately address child pornography on their platforms," reports CNET.

The tech giant has long been at the forefront of combating abuse imagery, even creating a detection tool called "PhotoDNA" almost a decade ago. But many criminals have turned to its search engine Bing as a reliable tool.

"Part of the issue is privacy, some companies say," said the report.

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News Network
November 21,2024

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Hamas says the Israeli regime’s sole objective lies in “erasing” the entirety of the Palestinian population from across the Palestinian territories.

Khalil al-Hayya, a ranking official with the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance movement, made the remarks to the Palestinian al-Aqsa TV on Wednesday.

“The occupation targets everyone—it strikes hospitals, civil defense, women, children, and the elderly,” he said, adding that the regime sought to “empty Gaza of its residents, and displace the Palestinian people to fulfill its dreams of building a Zionist Jewish state across all of Palestine.”

The remarks came amid the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

“This unprecedented aggression in modern times evokes scenes from the dark ages of human history, having crossed all red lines and exceeded every expectation of brutality in the modern era,” the Palestinian official lamented.

He also regretted that the regime had added “systematic and dangerous starvation to its aggression, falsely claiming before the world that it allows 250 [aid] trucks into Gaza daily. In reality, the number of trucks is far fewer.”

Hayya, meanwhile, regretted that “scenes of children torn apart, women screaming over their children, and heart-wrenching destruction have failed to stir enough humanity to stop these crimes.”

He decried the United States for vetoing the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions that are aimed at bringing about a potential ceasefire in the war, saying this indicated Washington’s “partnership in the aggression” and a simultaneous siege that the Israeli regime has been enforcing on Gaza.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official asserted that, despite what the Israeli official is after, Hamas would not hand over the regime’s captives “without [the regime’s] stopping the war.”

He called Netanyahu “the main obstacle” in the way of cessation of the aggression, saying the Israeli premier “blocks any progress for political reasons,” and citing his preventing conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in July.

Hayya also warned that the regime sought to expand the war beyond Gaza, but asserted that its goals are “impossible and will never happen.”

“Today, the enemy exposes its true intentions of extermination and displacement, but it will fail,” he stressed.

“The Palestinian people are resilient and will not surrender, as they believe in their humanitarian and political cause. The enemy and its allies will not succeed in achieving their goals. This steadfast people will endure, and the occupation will not prevail against them.”

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News Network
November 10,2024

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Mangaluru: A tragic accident took place on Saturday at Chembugudde near Thokkottu, claiming the life of a 47-year-old woman after a tanker lorry ran over her. The victim, identified as Rahmat H Rashid, was riding pillion with her husband, Abdul Rashid G, on their scooter. 

The couple was traveling from Yenepoya Hospital to Bajpe when the scooter skidded on the poorly maintained road. Rahmat fell onto the road and was fatally struck by a tanker lorry that was coming from behind. Despite being rushed to the hospital, doctors declared her dead upon arrival.

The incident prompted a swift response from the DYFI Ullal Taluk Committee, which staged a protest on Saturday night, condemning the unsafe condition of the road. Nithin Kuthar, president of the committee, criticized MLA and Legislative Assembly Speaker UT Khader for failing to ensure safe infrastructure, despite touting the road as toll-free. 

Kuthar demanded immediate repairs, warning that the committee would march to the MLA’s office with black flags if the road is not fixed within a week.

Former DYFI State President Sunil Kumar Bajal also voiced frustration over the deteriorating condition of Thokkottu market, highlighting the struggles people face while crossing roads riddled with dangerous potholes. In response to public outcry, temporary repairs were made to the road at Chembugudde on Sunday, though locals remain wary and demand a more permanent solution. 

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News Network
November 11,2024

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The Manipur Kuki MLAs have released a statement calling out Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's 'lies' in the Supreme Court. In a joint statement, the MLAs, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party, said they had not had any meeting with the Chief Minister since May 3, 2023, nor did they intend to meet him in the future as “he was the mastermind behind the violence”.

As per the MLAs, the SG lied about state CM N Biren Singh speaking to Kuki MLAs to control the situation there, in order to halt a Supreme Court probe into the leaked tapes which allege that Singh has been complicit in the violence that broke out between Kukis and Meitis there.

"We...clarify that we have never had any meeting with Chief Minister, Shri N. Biren Singh since May 3, 2023, nor have any intention to meet him in future as he is the mastermind behind the violence and ethnic cleansing of our people from the Imphal valley, which is continuing till today, the latest being the brutal killing and burning of Mrs Zosangkim Hmar on November 7, 2024," the letter read, while condemning the recent 'barbaric' killing of the woman there, and noting the SG's assertion is 'tantamount' to misleading the top court.

“We, the undersigned ten MLAs, have come to know that during the Supreme Court hearing held on November 8, 2024, the Solicitor General of India submitted that ‘CM is meeting all Kuki MLAs and trying to bring the situation down to get peace’. In this connection, we hereby categorically state that this submission is a blatant lie and tantamount to misleading the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the statement said.

The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition by a Kuki organisation, asked that it submit audio tapes to substantiate its claim that the Chief Minister was instrumental in inciting and organising violence in the northeastern State.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta orally informed the court that the Chief Minister was meeting all the Kuki-Zo MLAs and that peace in the State had come at a huge cost.

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