SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta culpable for failing to protect the state’s teenagers on the digital giant’s platforms and ordered the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to pay a $375 million penalty. The civil penalties were levied for violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws, The Albuquerque...Read More

In news that sounds like science fiction, teens are exploring relationships with artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots — and circumventing any restrictions designed to stop them. Teens are using their digital “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” for emotional connection and sexting, and it’s becoming a big problem. According to The Washington Post, teens are having conversations that are...Read More

Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, with a joint appointment in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, is an expert on school violence and creating safe communities. He examines how physical, social-organizational and cultural contexts in schools relate to different kinds of bullying and...Read More

POLICE are investigating claims of both school and cyber bullying in the case of a 14-year-old girl who ‘took her own life’ in Malaga’s Benalmadena this weekend.  The death of the teenager, named Angela, is under an open investigation by the Policia Nacional who have now confiscated her devices after her parents revealed that she...Read More

At the outset, let me state that I oppose bans. What people read or watch should not be a state matter. A social media ban, however, is not straightforward. As childhoods fall into the addictive trap of screens and scrolling, it is time to roll out the stop button. In India as well, a stage...Read More

Researchers believe that consensual sexting – an activity that takes place with the consent of everyone involved – is a common part of growing up. Sending and receiving sexually explicit messages is more common among teens than people might think. The latest representative study of Czech teenagers, conducted by researchers from the Interdisciplinary Research Team on...Read More

Teen suicides are on the rise, and recent statistics are alarming. According to Pew Research, since 2008, child suicide rates have increased by up to 150%. In a 2018 study, there was a 33% increase in depression and anxiety, and 59% of teens experienced cyberbullying or online harassment, with research pointing to social media use....Read More

The Florida Attorney General has launched an investigation into the messaging app Discord over child safety concerns. The platform, which has hundreds of millions of users, has been subpoenaed by the state of Florida to provide information on marketing materials, age-verification features and more. “Many of our criminal investigations into internet child predators lead to...Read More

Former Maroon 5 bassist Mickey Madden has been accused of attacking his wife after she found him sending lewd messages to teenagers, according to a report published Thursday. Madden, 46, is the subject of a temporary domestic violence restraining order from his wife, Kate Bowman, reported TMZ. In court docs obtained by the outlet, Bowman...Read More

In 2025, over 26% of American teenagers had experienced cyberbullying over the previous 30 days.  Based on several trends, these numbers are likely to increase as time spent online continues to rise.  A generation ago, bullying could generally at least be escaped at home. Today, bullies can reach their targets 24/7 — through social media,...Read More