children – LSD News

Three children reported missing while sea bathing in Kalametiya

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sat, 30 May 2026 14:52:01 +0000

May 30, 2026 06:25 pm

Three children aged between 12 to 18 years have been reported missing while bathing in the sea area off Kalametiya, Hungama with their parents.

Police said that search and rescue operations are currently underway.

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Two children die from smoke inhalation after fire in hotel room

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Wed, 27 May 2026 16:44:52 +0000

Two children from the same family have reportedly died today (27) after inhaling smoke from a fire that broke out in a hotel room in Batticaloa.

The deceased are a 3-year-old boy and his 5-year-old sister.

According to Ada Deana reporter, the mother of the deceased children was receiving treatment at the Batticaloa Hospital due to being diagnosed with cancer.

The two children, residents of Badulla, had temporarily stayed at the hotel room when they came with their father to visit their mother in Batticaloa.

Accordingly, it is reported that the father had left the two children in the room, locked the door and went out to the shop.

At that moment, the two children were playing with a lighter, when one of the mattresses in the room, which had two beds, had suddenly caught fire.

The two children, frightened by the fire, had crawled under the other bed that was not on fire and hid.

Seeing heavy smoke coming out of the hotel room, hotel employees and residents nearby immediately took action and broke down the door of the room.

The two children were already unconscious under the bed due to the heavy smoke, and although steps were taken to immediately hospitalize them, it is reported that the children were pronounced dead on admission to the hospital.

Police are conducting further investigations into the incident.

Social media giants urged to tighten child safety after UK rejects blanket ban for teens

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:34:55 +0000

Photo: Jaromir Chalabala / Getty

U.K. regulators are calling on social media giants to enforce stricter protection for children on their platforms after a blanket ban for under-16s was rejected by lawmakers.

Online safety organizations Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office said they had written to YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat on Thursday, urging them to tackle a broad range of child safety issues, from implementing stringent age verification measures to tackling child grooming on their platforms.

It comes after U.K. lawmakers voted against a proposal to include a social media ban for under-16s in the a piece of child welfare legislation being debated earlier this month.

The U.K. government has launched a consultation on children’s social media use to gather views of parents and young people on whether a social media ban would be effective.

Governments across Europe are weighing stricter regulations to limit teens’ use of social media after Australia became the first country to enforce a sweeping ban for under-16s in December. Spain, France, and Denmark are among the countries weighing similar measures.

Meta urges Australia to rethink under-16 social media ban after blocking over 500,000 accounts

Better age verification technologies

Ofcom said it had written to social media platforms calling on them to report on what they’re doing to keep children off their platforms, with a deadline of April 30 for them to respond.

Its demands included better enforcement of minimum age requirements, preventing strangers from being able to contact children, safer content for teens, and an end to product testing, such as AI, on children.

Tech giants are “failing to put children’s safety at the heart of their products,” and are falling short on promises to keep children safe online,” said Ofcom CEO Melanie Dawes.

“Without the right protections, like effective age checks, children have been routinely exposed to risks they didn’t choose, on services they can’t realistically avoid,” Dawes said.

The ICO published an open letter on Thursday, saying that social media platforms need to use facial age estimation, digital ID, or one-time photo matching to get better at age verification.

Many platforms rely on “self-declaration” as the main way to check a user’s age, but this is “easily circumvented” and ineffective, according to the regulator.

“This puts under-13s at risk by allowing their information to be collected and used unlawfully, without the protections they are entitled to,” ICO’s CEO Paul Arnold said in the letter.

“With ever-growing public concern, the status quo is not working, and industry must do more to protect children. You should act now to identify and implement current viable technologies to prevent children under your minimum age from accessing your service,” Arnold added.

Meta complied with Australia’s social media ban, blocking over 500,000 accounts believed to belong to under-16s from Instagram, Facebook, and Threads in the initial days. But it called on the Australian government to reconsider, saying a blanket ban would drive teens to circumvent the law and access social media sites without the necessary safeguards.

Instagram said it would alert parents when their teens repeatedly search for terms like suicide and self-harm over a short period of time.

A landmark trial brought against Meta and Alphabet kicked off in January, focusing on a young woman and her mother who allege that Instagram and YouTube have design features that contribute to addiction.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri have already testified, with an outcome expected in mid-March. The case could set a precedent on what responsibility social media companies have over their youngest users.

The European Commission opened an investigation in January into Elon Musk’s X over the spreading of sexually explicit material of children by its AI chatbot Grok. Additionally, the ICO issued a £14 million fine ($18 million) against Reddit for unlawfully processing children’s personal data in February.

What tech firms say

In a statement, a Meta spokesperson told CNBC that it already implements certain measures that the regulators outlined, including using “AI to detect users’ age based on their activity, and facial age estimation technology.”

It also has a separate teen account with built-in protections, the spokesperson said. “With teens using on average 40 apps per week, we believe the most effective way to complement our own age assurance approach is to verify age centrally at the app store level,” they added.

TikTok says its rolled out enhanced technologies across Europe since January to detect and remove accounts that belong to anyone under its minimum age requirement of 13, with the help of specialist moderators.

It also utilizes facial age estimation, credit card authorization, or government-approved identification to confirm users’ ages, the company said.

Snapchat is investing and working on its safety efforts, a spokesperson from the company told CNBC in emailed comments.

“We strongly support app store-level age verification – a consistent, industry-wide solution applied at the point of download, rather than patchwork checks by individual platforms,” they added.

YouTube did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CNBC.

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As American Girl turns 40, Mattel grapples with bringing dolls into a new era

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 16:18:43 +0000

The original six American Girl historical characters — Kirsten Larson, Samantha Parkington, Molly McIntire, Felicity Merriman, Addy Walker and Josefina Montoya — are displayed at the brand’s flagship store,

Luke Fountain

The flagship American Girl Place at Rockefeller Center in New York City feels frozen in time.

The air smells faintly of vanilla. Young girls dart between doll displays clutching miniature shirts and sequined shoes. Beneath glittering chandeliers, the brand’s iconic red boxes line shelves with museum-like precision. Blow dryers hum in the Doll Salon, and downstairs, pink-frosted cupcakes land on cafe tables before dolls sitting upright in their miniature highchairs.

“It feels timeless,” said Jamie Cygielman, global head of dolls for Mattel, the brand’s parent company.

And yet, behind the scenes, the business of American Girl dolls is not what it once was.

As American Girl turns 40, the brand is navigating more modern challenges: digital competition, shifting play patterns and an aging, more cost-conscious customer base.

“The anniversary is at precarious moment for American Girl and the whole doll industry,” said Jaime Katz, an analyst who covers Mattel for Morningstar. “Kids are more digital in play, and the [American Girl] brand has struggled.”

Around a decade ago, at its peak, American Girl was recording more than $600 million in annual sales. By 2023, annual sales had fallen to roughly $200 million — just a third of prior levels.

While American Girl has shrunk back considerably from the mid-2010s, the brand has more recently posted five consecutive quarters of sales growth — one of the few steady performers inside Mattel’s portfolio.

“Growing off a base that’s down more than 60% doesn’t mean the brand is back. It means it’s stabilizing,” Katz told CNBC.

Earlier this month, Mattel reported fourth-quarter sales of $1.77 billion, falling short of Wall Street expectations after holiday demand came in lighter than projected and heavier discounting weighed on margins. Earnings per share likewise fell short, and Mattel issued a lower-than-expect profit forecast for 2026.

Mattel shares have fallen roughly 19% since the Feb. 10 report and are down about 20% over the past year. Citi and JPMorgan downgraded the stock after the results, too.

“People are watching Mattel this year … waiting with baited breath, because they are spending a ton and it seems unlikely they will be bringing in big profits,” Katz said.

A doll gets her hair washed, brushed and curled at the American Girl Salon at the brand’s flagship store in Rockefeller Center.

Luke Fountain

Longstanding issues

Even before the Covid pandemic forced American Girl to reduce its retail footprint from about 15 stores in 2019 to seven U.S. locations today, the brand faced mounting competition from lower-priced alternatives at big-box retailers like Target’s “Our Generation” line.

A traditional, 18-inch American Girl typically starts at $135, excluding accessories, which can cost as much as $250 for a bunk bed or $275 for a beach cruiser.

The premium price once signaled to many parents a mark of quality and prestige, said Laura Tretter, co-host of the American Girl Women podcast. But in an inflation-conscious environment, it’s narrowed the customer base, Katz said.

“Parents are more selective about discretionary spending right now,” Katz said. “That price point [for an American Girl doll] looks steep to many households.”

Across the toy industry, companies, including competitors like Hasbro, are grappling with how to get kids interested in their products, particularly amid uneven consumer spending and, recently, trade uncertainty.

“There are so many more things today that a kid might be enticed by to play with,” Cygielman told CNBC. “There’s also more competition today, and we saw in the past that tariffs can make an impact on the toy market, but we adapt.”

For many kids, play has migrated toward tablets, gaming subscriptions and short-form video.

“The definition of ‘toy’ has changed,” Katz said. “A iPad or Nintendo Switch competes directly with a doll. There are simply more claims on the same discretionary dollar.”

Overall, Mattel’s doll and preschool categories have faced steady declines for the last three quarters, even after the halo effect of 2023’s “Barbie” movie. Global dolls sales fell 7% in the latest quarter, while the infant, toddler and preschool segment declined 17%.

Struggling sales for American Girl and Mattel’s Fisher Price brand motivated activist investor Barington Capital in 2024 to push the company to streamline its portfolio and improve returns, floating the possibility of selling off the brands.

“American Girl is not a huge part of Mattel’s overall financial profile,” Katz said. “Still though, for investors, the question isn’t whether the brand is beloved. It’s whether it’s strategically essential. It was a drag on profits.”

A girl waits with her new Truely Me doll at the American Girl flagship store in Rockefeller Center.

Luke Fountain

Capitalizing on loyalty

Inside the Rockefeller Center store, those industry headwinds feel distant.

On a recent visit, Lisa Kandoski stood gazing at Molly McIntire — the World War II-era heroine adorned with round wire-rimmed glasses, a navy argyle sweater and braids tied in red ribbons — just like the doll Kandoski said her grandmother put under the Christmas tree in 1990.

“It’s not just a doll,” Kandoski, now 40, told CNBC, her eyes misty. “I sort of realized the impact Molly had on me as a kid. She taught me that you could be brave even when the world was scary, that you could ‘do your part’ even when you were small. She shaped who I am.”

That emotional alchemy has defined American Girl since it disrupted the doll industry in 1986. At the time, the market was dominated by either fashion dolls mirroring adulthood or baby dolls to rehearse motherhood.

The original six American Girl characters — Samantha, Kirsten, Molly, Felicity, Addy and Josefina — came with books tackling subjects rarely taught to young kids like child labor or racism, and all dolls treated girlhood itself as a formative stage.

“American Girl remains a moral compass for many of us,” said Tretter of the American Girl Women podcast. “I love that girls today are still getting positive messages about inclusivity, friendship and going through difficult changes.”

Over time, American Girl expanded into publishing, film and destination retail while diversifying its characters, like with the 2026 “Girl of the Year,” Raquel Reyes, a biracial DJ and animal rescuer who helps run her family’s Kansas City paleta shop.

The brand’s whimsical seriousness became a differentiator and fostered generational loyalty, said Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler, a folklorist and author of “An American Girl Anthology: Finding Ourselves in the Pleasant Company Universe.”

Look no further than the Doll Hospital where white-coated “doctors” triage patients, fit wheelchairs, perform eye exams, and apply miniature casts for doll owners of all ages.

“That’s why people return,” Orlovsky-Schnitzler said. “You’re not just buying plastic and fabric. You’re revisiting a version of yourself.”

And even though the dolls remain preserved in childhood innocence, their original owners, now grown up, keep returning to American Girl through podcasts, memes, cosplay and fan fiction.

Some pass their dolls down to their children. Others buy new ones for themselves.

“There’s something powerful about handing your daughter the doll you once slept beside,” Orlovsky-Schnitzler said. “It’s also just as comforting to go back to the days of your youth with your own doll.”

American Girl is releasing modernized version of its original six characters for the brand’s 40th anniversary.

Mattel

A growing base

Mattel is battling to convert that nostalgia into broader sales growth.

So‑called “kidult” consumers — adults who buy toys for themselves — have become a coveted demographic. By late 2024, spending on toys for adults 18 and older had surpassed that for children ages 3 to 5, according to market research firm Circana. That cohort continued to drive industry growth in 2025.

Mattel has increasingly sought to monetize its intellectual property through publishing, collectibles, entertainment and digital platforms. In interviews and on calls with investors, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has said that mobile games and interactive platforms are particularly promising areas.

However, “nostalgia must translate into durable revenue and sales growth,” Katz said. Lean too heavily into adult collectors, and a brand risks “aging alongside its original audience.” Pivot too aggressively toward digital trends, and it “risks diluting what made it distinctive.”

Competitors have been doing the same. For instance, Lego continues to release more brick building sets aimed at adults like flowers, art and collectables based on millennial pop culture favorites such as the 1990s TV hit “Friends.”

For American Girl, its 40th anniversary offers a natural inflection point to strike a balance between kid and adult fans, Cygielman said.

American Girl is releasing modernized versions of its original six characters and publishing its first book for adults, centered on Samantha Parkington and set during her adulthood in the 1920s.

At the same time, the brand is working to keep the next generation engaged through contemporary “Girl of the Year” storylines and investments in digital platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and “American Girl World” on Roblox.

“Nostalgia is an entry point, not the endgame,” Cygielman said. “The question is how we extend that emotional equity into new platforms and new audiences.”

Elon Musk’s X faces probes in Europe, India, Malaysia after Grok generated explicit images of women and children

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 01:39:53 +0000

Elon musk and the xAI logo.

Vincent Feuray | Afp | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s X is being investigated by authorities in Europe, India and Malaysia after its Grok chatbot let users create and share AI-generated sexualized images of children and women.

British media watchdog Ofcom also said it’s requested information from X, which is owned by xAI, concerning the Grok issues. And on Sunday, a member of Brazil’s parliament said on social media that she’s asked the country’s federal public prosecutor and data protection authority to suspend use of Grok until an investigation is completed.

The probes follow a global surge over the past few weeks in the use of Grok to create and share nonconsensual, intimate images, or NCII, derived from photos or videos of real people in response to user’s prompts. The concerning images have been widely shared on X.

Musk’s company recently updated its Grok Imagine features, enabling easier image generation from text-based prompts on the platform.

While safety experts and tech critics decried the proliferation of exploitative images and clips on X, Musk appeared to mock the situation by sharing an array of Grok-generated images, including one depicting himself in a bikini, punctuated by laughing-crying emojis.

At a press conference on Monday, European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the authority was “very seriously looking into this matter” and was “well aware” that X and Grok were “now offering a spicy mode showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with childlike images.”

“This is not ‘spicy,'” Regnier said. “This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This is how we see it, and this has no place in Europe.”

Late last week, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered X to conduct a “comprehensive technical, procedural and governance-level review” of Grok. The company was given until Jan. 5 to comply.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said over the weekend that it’s investigating X and will call in company representatives.

“MCMC urges all platforms accessible in Malaysia to implement safeguards aligned with Malaysian laws and online safety standards, especially in relation to their AI-powered features, chatbots and image manipulation tools,” the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) called on the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission to investigate the matter in an interview with CNBC. Dani Pinter, chief legal officer and director of the Law Center for NCOSE, said there’s “not a lot of legal precedence on point for these specific issues.”

However, she said federal laws prohibit the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse materials, or CSAM, and that can be applied to virtually created content “when it depicts an identifiable child, or depicts a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”

Those laws include the Take It Down Act, which was endorsed by First Lady Melania Trump before it was enacted last year.

The DOJ didn’t respond to a request for comment. The FTC declined to comment. XAI didn’t provide a comment beyond an automated reply.

Musk’s social media company made its first public statement on the matter on Saturday in a post on the official X Safety account.

“We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary,” the company wrote.

Musk wrote, in a separate post on X, “Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”

The following day, an xAI employee named Ethan He wrote in a post on X that Grok Imagine was updated, but he didn’t specify any changes regarding the ability to create harmful explicit images.

Musk and X have a history of allowing users who created posts showing child sexual exploitation to stay on the platform.

In 2023, X briefly suspended then reinstated the account of a user named Dom Lucre after he posted “child exploitation pictures associated with the criminal conviction of an Australian man in the Philippines,” Mashable reported. Musk said at that time that X decided to delete Lucre’s offending posts but to reinstate the right-wing influencer to the platform. Lucre currently has a monetized account on X with 1.6 million listed followers.

Tom Quisel, CEO of Musubi AI, which helps social networks and AI companies automate content moderation using AI, said it appeared that xAI had failed to build even “entry level trust and safety layers” into the rollout of Grok Imagine to X.

Quisel said it would be easy for a company like xAI to have its model detect and block “an image involving children or partial nudity,” or to reject users’ prompts to put the subject of a photo in sexually suggestive outfits.

The controversy has done nothing to harm X’s traffic.

According to Apptopia, which tracks mobile app trends, daily downloads of Grok have increased 54% since Jan. 2, while daily downloads of X have jumped 25% in the past three days.

WATCH: Elon Musk blasts EU following fine of X

Musk’s xAI faces backlash after Grok generates sexualized images of children on X

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 20:28:18 +0000

Elon Musk watches as President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Nov. 19, 2025.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s xAI saw user backlash after its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok generated sexualized pictures of children in response to user prompts.

In a social media post to X on Friday, a Grok post stated that it was “urgently fixing” the issue and called child sexual abuse material “illegal and prohibited.”

In replies to users, the bot also posted that a company could face criminal or civil penalties if it knowingly facilitates or fails to prevent this type of content after being alerted.

Grok posts are AI-generated messages and do not stand in for official company statements.

Musk’s xAI, which created Grok and merged with X last year, sent an autoreply to a request for comment: “Legacy Media Lies.”

Users on X raised concerns in recent days over explicit content of minors, including children wearing minimal clothing, being generated using the Grok tool.

A post from xAI technical staff member Parsa Tajik also acknowledged the issue.

“Hey! Thanks for flagging. The team is looking into further tightening our gaurdrails,” Tajik wrote in a post.

The proliferation of AI image-generating platforms since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022 has raised concerns over content manipulation and online safety across the board. It’s also contributed to an increasing number of platforms that have produced deepfake nudes of actual people.

While other chatbots have faced similar issues, Grok has repeatedly landed in hot water for misuse.

In May, the company faced backlash for responding to user queries with unsolicited comments about “white genocide” in South Africa. Two months later, Grok posted antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler.

Despite the stumbles, xAI has continued to land partnerships and deals.

The Department of Defense added Grok to its AI agents platform last month, and the tool is the main chatbot for prediction betting platforms Polymarket and Kalshi.

CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this story.

Creating eco-friendly schools and environmentally responsible children a key objective – PM

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 01:45:46 +0000

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that as a government of the National People’s Power, it is the national vision to build a sustainable environment that ensures the sustain of all living beings and one of the key objectives is to create eco-friendly schools and environmentally responsible children through educational reforms.

The prime minister made these remarks while addressing the opening of the newly established Moon Memorial Museum at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, on Sunday (28).

The newly opened Moon Memorial Botanical Museum was established to commemorate the founder of the garden, Mr. Alexander Moon, marking the celebration of 200 years of the proud history of botany at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya.

This Botanical Museum, open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for public exhibition and it provides knowledge on unique plants, plant specimens, economic crops, plant history while paralleling other international botanical museums to serve the knowledge on the public and schoolchildren, and to promote extensive knowledge on plant systems and incitive conservation.

During the occasion, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya took part in the symbolic planting of a Pini Beraliya tree at the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens.

The Prime Minister commended the contribution made by the Moon Memorial Museum in disseminating scientific knowledge about plants, protecting ecosystems, and supporting research that advances the path toward a production-based economy and also emphasized its contribution to the tourism industry.

The Prime Minister further stated:

“As a government of the National People’s Power, our national vision is to build a sustainable environment that ensures sustain of every living being.

In order to achieve this, our country needs not only different leaders but also different people, a sensitive community that shows love for the environment, animals, and oceans. We believe that such a transformation of people can be achieved through a strong cultural renewal aimed at a national renaissance. If we can create a new cultural citizen who embraces multiculturalism, is free, critical, and respectful of human dignity, that citizens will undoubtedly safeguard their natural environment, which is their rightful heritage.

The Alexander Moon Memorial Museum, opened today, can be introduced as the best opportunity to observe, study, research, and preserve our plant heritage for future generations.

This museum will become an important tourist attraction that will gain global attention and recognition, further enhancing the tourism value of the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens.”

The Prime Minister also highlighted that it is the government’s goal to create eco-friendly schools and environmentally responsible children through education reforms.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Environment Dr. Dammika Patabendi stated that, the Department of Botanical Gardens together with the Ministry of Environment will work to expand botanical gardens apart from the five main botanical gardens along with establishing botanical gardens based on specific climatic zones.

The occasion was attended by Minister of Environment Dr. Dammika Patabendi, Deputy Minister of Environment Anton Jayakody, Deputy Minister of Health and Mass Media Hansaka Wijemuni, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment K. R. Uduwawala, Director General of the Botanic Gardens H. C. P. Jayaweera, Members of Parliament, and a distinguished gathering of invitees.

Our task is not to shield children from technology, but to guide them – PM

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 17:34:19 +0000

Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, officially launched STEM Feed in Sri Lanka, a new in-app destination on TikTok offering credible science, technology, engineering and mathematics content.

This initiative embarks on a new era where TikTok will come together to reimagine how education can be accessed, shared, and strengthened in a digital-first world setting the stage for a transformative initiative aimed at expanding digital learning opportunities for the country’s youth.

Speaking at the launch held today (11) at the ICT Hotel Ratnadipa in Colombo, the Prime Minister said, “Our task is not to shield children from technology, but to guide them to use it wisely, critically, and creatively, so that it becomes a tool for growth rather than harm.”

Delivering the keynote address the Prime Minister emphasized the government’s initiative on establishing the Task Force that brings together a multidisciplinary team of officials, educators, academics, technology experts, child protection advocates, and private sector partners aiming to make Sri Lanka’s education system inclusive, future-ready, and resilient, the statement said.

The Prime Minister commended the partnerships of global platforms like TikTok in stepping forward to align with our national priorities and supporting to inspire young people in STEM subjects and to make knowledge engaging and accessible beyond textbooks. She further encouraged the dedicated feed of STEM to focus on STEAM subjects including Arts and Humanities in building an innovative, balanced, and empowered youth generation.

Commenting on this milestone for digital education, Ferdous Mottakin, Head of Public Policy & Government Relations for South Asia at TikTok, stated that the launch of the STEM Feed in Sri Lanka is not only about expanding access to educational content, but also about ensuring that such learning takes place within a safe, transparent, and trusted digital environment.

The event was attended by the Ferdous Mottakin, Head of public policy and government relations, south Asia, TikTok, Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri, Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, Chairman of National Education Commission Prof. A. Sarath Ananda along with government officials, Media personnel and creators.

Jeffrey Katzenberg says legislation to protect children from online harms is unlikely: ‘It took 80 years’ to pass seatbelt laws

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 07:47:17 +0000

Jeffrey Katzenberg—film producer, former DreamWorks CEO, and founding partner of tech investment firm WndrCo—is, perhaps most importantly, a dad and a grandfather.

That role prompted him to back Aura, a startup developing AI-driven tools that go far beyond standard parental controls, in 2021. Aura’s platform tracks behavioral patterns such as sleep and focus, flags mental health risks including self-harm or suicidal ideation, and gives parents visibility into kids’ social media, gaming, and AI chat activity. The AI-powered tools, which analyze language patterns, online tone, emotional expression and late-night activity, were developed in consultation with pediatric and mental health experts, including collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital.

Speaking alongside Aura CEO Hari Ravichandran at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech in Park City, Utah on Monday, Katzenberg, who sits on Aura’s board, argued that parents can’t wait for lawmakers to catch up. “The idea that we’ll see aggressive legislation [to combat online harms] in this country soon is unlikely,” he said. He likened the situation to seatbelts: their value was obvious early on, he explained, but it still took 80 years for laws to mandate them. “These things don’t happen quickly, unfortunately.”

Meanwhile, the dangers to children and families are mounting. Katzenberg cited an Aura survey of 2,500 teens ages 13 to 18, which found nearly half reported feeling depressed and a third said they struggle with social withdrawal.

Just as teenage drivers spend years preparing for the risks of the road—with learner’s permits and driver’s ed—children should also be prepared for smartphones, social media, and AI, Katzenberg said. “Most kids actually want guidance, they want help along the way, [though] they don’t want to be spied on,” he explained. “Aura is observational—it’s giving you as a parent around data and information…mostly this is about what does their digital health look like.”

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Video: Judge Temporarily Halts Deportation of Guatemalan Children

LSD News Szerkesztőség — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 17:09:16 +0000

new video loaded: Judge Temporarily Halts Deportation of Guatemalan Children

By Jiawei Wang•September 1, 2025

With children already loaded onto planes, a federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting dozens of them.

Recent episodes in Immigration