Building Digital Sanctuaries: Big Tech & Children's Online Safety - WISE On Air

As the metaverse continues to evolve from fiction to reality, with platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and Meta gaining popularity, should we be concerned about its implications, especially for our children?
The Metaverse has had a tumultuous development to say the least - last year following its reveal there was a lot of hype surrounding the potential of what it can be. But the conversation quickly died down with recent leaps in AI development taking center stage.
But with recent news of hyperrealistic podcasts now being filmed in the Metaverse, we’re starting to get a glimpse of what this technology will entail in the future. With the concept of the metaverse still being an ambiguous concept to many, it’s important to go past the hype and consider the safety and privacy implications of this technology.
To shed light on this issue, Founder of Bracket Capital, Yalda Aoukar shares alarming statistics about the rise in online child exploitation and abuse. She discusses how predators are using online gaming and metaverse platforms to target children. Yalda provides perspective on whether big tech companies are doing enough to address these problems. She also talks about actions stakeholders like parents and policymakers can take to improve child safety online.
Join this insightful conversation with WISE Director and Host Elyas Felfoul as Yalda highlights the work still needed to make the metaverse and internet a safer place for kids.
www.bracketfoundation.org/
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00:00 Opening
02:15 Intro
02:27 Choosing roles between work and life
04:14 Going From Banking to Investment
10:06 Quitting A Job For Dreams While Eight Months Pregnant
12:11 How Moving to Different Schools Changes You
14:48 Kickstarting a VC
18:13 AI Combating Child Abuse?
20:24 Alarming Statistics on Online Child Abuse
22:00 Addressing the problem at the core
23:08 What is the metaverse?
25:08 Why Online Platforms Are Not Safe For Minors
31:24 Is Big Tech Doing Enough?
38:57 How Should We Take Action?
43:01 Bonus question 1
44:19 Bonus question 2
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