Many adults would struggle to understand the terms and conditions for using video-sharing apps, making them particularly unsuitable for children, Ofcom has found. The regulator calculated that the T&Cs set by six platforms – BitChute, Brand New Tube, OnlyFans, Snapchat, TikTok and Twitch – required advanced reading skills to understand, making them unsuitable for many users, including children. At nearly 16,000 words, OnlyFans had the longest terms of service, which would take its adult users more than an hour to read, the regulator said. This was followed by Twitch (27 minutes, 6,678 words), Snapchat (20 minutes, 4,903 words), TikTok (19 minutes, 4,773 words), Brand New Tube (10 minutes, 2,492 words) and BitChute (8 minutes, 2,017 words). Ofcom calculated a ‘reading ease’ score for each platform’s terms of service, finding that all but one was “difficult to read and best understood by high-school graduates”. Twitch’s terms were found to be the most difficult to read, while TikTok was the only platform with terms of service that were likely to be understood by users without a high school or university education – although the reading level required was still higher than that of the youngest users permitted on the site. Ofcom also found that Snapchat, TikTok and BitChute use “click wrap agreements”, which make acceptance of the terms of service implicit in the act of signing up. Users are not prompted or encouraged to access the terms of service and so it makes it easier to agree to them without actually opening or reading them. The regulator said its regulation of video-sharing platforms was important in informing its broader online safety regulatory approach under the Online Safety Bill, which it expected to receive royal assent later this year. Jessica Zucker, online safety policy director at Ofcom, said: “Terms and conditions are fundamental to protecting people, including children, from harm when using social video sites and apps. “That’s because the reporting of potentially harmful videos – and effective moderation of that content – can only work if there are clear and unambiguous rules underpinning the process. “Our report found that lengthy, impenetrable and, in some cases, inconsistent terms drawn up by some UK video-sharing platforms risk leaving users and moderators in the dark. “So today we’re calling on platforms to make improvements, taking account of industry good practice highlighted in our report.” A Snapchat spokeswoman said: “As Ofcom recognises, we have a number of good-practice measures in place, including using reading-ease tools to regularly review language. “We are in the process of updating our guidelines, including adding more information about moderation and what content is and isn’t allowed. We will continue to gather feedback and work with Ofcom to ensure our rules are easy to understand.” BitChute said: “BitChute welcomes users and creators aged 16 and older from all backgrounds to exercise their individual freedoms to share and consider the widest possible variety of experiences and viewpoints. Therefore, it is essential for us to provide transparency and accessibility. “We look forward to reviewing Ofcom’s report with an eye for possible improvements.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Oxford scientists find no evidence to suggest Facebook not good for wellbeing Ozzy Osbourne PlayStation tweet which failed to reveal link to Sony banned Harry and Meghan ring young online innovators after funding awards

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 7, 2023--

The Biden administration has formally rebuffed a bid by environmental activists to phase down oil and gas production

Eugenia Cooney received a horrifying response after she shared new pictures and a video of her emaciated body on Instagram

Instagram’s team is working on a number of updates for its new Threads app, its management has said. Meta launched Threads – a Twitter rival that is built by the Instagram team and uses its branding – late on Wednesday. It has already gained some 70 million users, capitalising on chaos and technical problems at Twitter. But it is still without a number of major features, including those that are readily available on Twitter. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has been responding to users on the Threads app itself promising that a number of those features are coming. Chief among them is the option to change between accounts. Even though Threads is a separate app from Instagram, users must sign up with an Instagram account – which is then stuck signed in, without the option to quickly switch between other accounts. Mr Mosseri said that and many other additional features were being worked on by its team. Those other tools including a devoted desktop version, better search and hashtags, and better integration between Threads and Instagram so that posts can be shared between the two. But perhaps the biggest request has been for a chronological feed that includes posts only from those accounts that a user actually follows. At the moment, Threads is built around one news feed that is filled with algorithmically chosen content, much of which comes from accounts that a user has not explicitly chosen to subscribe to. Mr Mosseri said that was being worked on, and could arrive in the “next couple weeks”, but it was not necessarily a priority. “I do think a lot of why people are getting so much engagement right now is because you don’t need to follow a bunch of people in order to discover a bunch of new accounts in feed,” he wrote. Threads has ruled out some expected changes, too. That includes direct messages, with Mr Mosseri suggesting that he did not want to give users another inbox to check, with Meta already offering a number of other messaging platforms. Both Mr Mosseri and his boss, Mark Zuckerberg, have ruled out any rush to put ads into Threads. Mr Zuckerberg said that the site would decide on ads when the app was moving towards a billion users, and that for now the company was working on getting even more scale. Read More Threads hits 70 million sign-ups on its second day People are realising something really worrying about Threads Twitter threatens legal action against Meta over new ‘Threads’ app

FlexiSpot, the leading provider of ergonomic office furniture, is celebrating its 7th anniversary with a

An amendment that would strip language in the debt-ceiling bill expediting approval of Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s Mountain Valley

Since 2016, YouTube audiences have been riveted by Avocado devouring everything listed on fast-food menus

NBA 2K24 Season 2 starts on Friday, Oct. 20 at 11 a.m. ET with new improvements to shooting, dunking, stealing, and more.

The I- in IAA, the name of Germany’s annual auto show, stands for international. This year’s event is

TL;DR: As of August 23, you can get the OMNIA M2+ MagSafe wireless charging station

BASINGSTOKE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 4, 2023--