e-Curse: 5 Kids in Bihar Learning To Make Bomb By Watching YouTube Got Injured by Explosion

In an incident that is truly tragic and concerning for the society, some children in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, aged between 7 to 12 years were trying to make a bomb after watching a YouTube video when tragically the bomb accidentally exploded, injuring five children.

Unfortunately, the bomb explosion resulted in injuries to five children. The incident has sparked widespread concern and has gone viral on social media.

These children from BIHAR were making Bombs,learning via Youtube. while making it exploded but only caused minor injuries to them they are safe Now..@YouTube should not encourage such videos that harm people. pic.twitter.com/vNV9Dgeknb

— Ashwin.. (@EvilTweetX) August 8, 2024

Local authorities have emphasized the need for parents to monitor their children’s online activities more closely. They also highlighted the importance of educating children about the dangers of attempting to replicate hazardous activities seen online. This tragic event underscores the critical need for better digital literacy and safety measures to protect children from such risks.

This highly concerning incident highlights the critical need to monitor children's online activities. It is essential to ensure that children are safe and aware of what they are watching and learning on the internet.

To prevent such incidents, social media platforms can play a crucial role in preventing incidents like the one in Muzaffarpur by implementing several key measures such as Proactive Monitoring wherein the online video platforms use advanced algorithms and AI to detect and remove harmful content, such as videos showing how to make dangerous items like bombs.

These platforms must also encourage users to report inappropriate or dangerous content and ensure that reported content is reviewed and acted upon promptly.

Besides, parents should also keep an eye on what their children are watching online. Use parental control settings on devices and platforms like YouTube to restrict access to inappropriate content. Parents must teach children about the dangers of attempting to replicate dangerous activities seen online. Encourage open communication so they feel comfortable discussing what they watch.

Need for School and Community Programs:

Safety Workshops: Schools and community centers can organize workshops to educate children about online safety and the potential risks of imitating dangerous activities.

Digital Literacy: Incorporate digital literacy into the curriculum to help children understand how to use the internet safely and responsibly.

Flagging Dangerous Content

From April to June 2024, YouTube received over 23 million flags from human users. This indicates a high level of community engagement in reporting inappropriate content.

The most common reasons for flagging videos include spam or misleading content, hateful or abusive content, sexual content, violent or repulsive content, and harmful or dangerous acts.

A significant portion of flagged content is reviewed and acted upon. For instance, from October to December 2017, 75.9% of all automatically flagged videos were removed before they received any views.

Improvements in automated flagging systems have also helped detect and review content even before it is flagged by the community. More than 80% of auto-flagged videos were removed before receiving a single view in the second quarter of 2019.

Reportedly, YouTube employs trained human reviewers who evaluate flagged content 24/7 to ensure it violates the Community Guidelines before taking action. This helps maintain a balance between automated systems and human judgment.

By taking required steps, both by parents are and social media platforms, a safer online environment can be created which would help prevent such tragic incidents. 

1M1B in Partnership Meta Platform Inc Launches Digital Nagrik Campaign to Create Awareness About Women’s Digital Safety

1M1B creates various online dialogues and panels for empowered female influencers and teachers from across India on International Women’s Day

Over 60% of the pledges were taken by females during this social media campaign- Digital Nagrik

1M1B (One Million for One Billion), has launched the Digital Nagrik Campaign, supported by Meta Platform Inc, to create awareness about women’s safety online, aligning the Digital Nagrik campaign with this year’s International Women's Day. The theme of International Women's Day is "DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality". 1M1B is hosting various online dialogues and panel with women influencers and teachers on March 7 and 8 with an aim to advance equality in the digital sphere and empower women online.

Launched on Safer Internet Day, the Digital Nagrik Campaign has witnessed huge support from women and girls from across India. Women and girls have taken more than 60% of the 15,000 pledges taken digitally so far. Digital Nagrik is a social media campaign and a pledge that aims to foster a culture of digital safety and create a safer and more inclusive internet space. This campaign aligns with the central government’s objective to ensure an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet for its citizens.

On International Women's Day, a panel will be hosted on Twitter space that will be focus on discussions around fostering a culture of digital safety and promoting a secure and inclusive online environment. Influencers will highlight the digital gap between genders, the importance of digital education, and the urgency to combat online harassment of women and girls.

The Digital Nagrik Campaign is led by CBSE teachers and academic advisors and managed by 1M1B, India’s largest organization that is developing and mobilizing India’s future-ready technology workforce. Digital Nagrik will develop a community of responsible digital citizens who are aware of their digital rights and obligations. 1M1B has already engaged over 4 lakh teachers and 11 lakh students on digital citizenship, well-being, and cyber safety, and plans to engage over 1 million people through the Digital Nagrik pledge this year.

Digital Nagrik – Time to create a safer cyberspace for Women and girls

According to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau, the number of cybercrime incidents in 2021 has increased by 18.4% since 2019, but the number of cases involving women has increased at a much steeper 28.4% rate. Data showed that 10,730 incidents, or 20.2% of the 52,974 incidents reported in 2021, were reported as crimes against women. Cyberbullying, cyberstalking, defamation, morphing, and the creation of false profiles are the most common cyber-crimes committed against women. Among the top 3 cities to receive complaints around these crimes were New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai, with school and college students forming 60% of these complaints.

The Digital Nagrik campaign will raise awareness about the prevalence of online harassment against women and provide tips and resources to empower women and girls to combat it.

Manav Subodh- Founder of 1M1B said that “In a world that depends more and more on technology, criminal activity related to electronic and internet platforms tends to rise, with women becoming the easiest victims. To punish such criminals with severe measures, the law must go above and beyond. There are advantages and disadvantages to technology, which can be used for good or bad. Increased cybercrime awareness and knowledge, privacy protection, and legal support are necessary to combat cybercrime against women. At an astounding 85%, women and girls are more likely than men to experience online abuse. The Digital Nagrik campaign aims to increase awareness of the prevalence of harassment of women online and equip women and girls with the tools they need to stop it. The Digital Nagrik campaign is part of the Digital Citizenship curriculum created by teachers and introduced by 1M1B in CBSE schools supported by Meta. It’s important to teach about online safety at an early age, right in the high schools so that today’s youth are made aware. We can see that 60% of pledges are signed by females, which shows the need for awareness and education dialogues on this issue.”

The Digital Nagrik pledge has been available for signing at www.iamdigitalnagrik.com since February 7, 2023.

About 1M1B Foundation: 

Established in 2014, 1M1B (One Million For One Billion) is a United Nations accredited organization focussed on social innovations and creating a future ready tech workforce.

1M1B engages and enables youth to become future-ready problem solvers creating real-world impact. By undergoing 1M1B programs that are based on a unique 4.3.2.1 activation framework, youth acquire critical skill sets, and mind-sets toolsets to access the jobs of tomorrow. Areas of focus include digital technologies (AI, AR, VR), digital creativity, digital citizenship and 4th industrial revolution skills like problem-solving, flexibility, empathy, dealing with failures and collaboration.

1M1B programmes are available in over 3,000 schools across India, with over 334,000 youth and 125,000 teachers trained to date. Over 250 villages are served by 1M1B. 150 Indian youth presented their work at the United Nations in New York, and 1M1B helped to create over 150 young entrepreneurs.

1M1B exists to activate 1 million youth who will impact 1 billion people, creating a world with balanced prosperity.

Paytm Collaborates with MeitY on ‘G20-Stay Safe Online’ Campaign, to Drive Greater Awareness among citizens on Cyber Safety

Indian mobile payments and financial services company Paytm has collaborated with the MeitY on ‘Stay Safe Online’ Campaign during India’s presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) intergovernmental forum.

G20-Stay Safe Online Campaign (www.mygov.in/staysafeonline) is aimed at creating awareness among citizens about online safety as more and more people are rapidly adopting digital payments. The focus of the Stay Safe Online campaign is to promote cyber hygiene by educating them about online risk & safety measures. This campaign is in line with many such initiatives taken by Paytm and MeitY to sensitise users on online safety amid a greater usage of social media and digital payments.

The Stay Safe Online campaign comes at a time when the country is taking strides towards becoming a trillion-dollar digital economy. India is in the midst of a digital transformation with a proliferation of smartphones, increasing internet penetration and a young population. Technological development in India is advancing exponentially with innovations like artificial intelligence, Internet of things, augmented reality and metaverse evolving and becoming a part of our daily activities, this collaboration will not only support and equip the existing Internet users but will also be beneficial for the rapidly increasing new Internet users in India.

This campaign will be carried out in multiple languages to reach a wider audience. As a champion of digital payments, Paytm’s collaboration with this campaign will help in its better outreach.

The resources under the G20-Stay Safe Online Campaign will cover themes such as tackling Online frauds, reporting harmful content, tips to Stay Safe Online and organizing National level competitions to inculcate cyber hygiene practices among the internet users as part of Campaign & participate at https://www.staysafeonline.in/competitions.

As the pioneer of mobile payments, Paytm has empowered citizens with a wide range of digital payments and financial services, thus driving financial inclusion in the country. Paytm has one of the lowest fraud-to-sales ratios in the industry. With innovative technology-led products and services, the fintech giant has also been actively educating its users about online safety to ensure their cyber safety. In fact, its revolutionary IoT device, Paytm Soundbox has been a boon for visually challenged merchants. Its real-time audio alerts help these merchants keep a track of all payments.

As part of the collaboration, Paytm will share creatives, posters, banners and videos with MeitY’s MyGov Citizen Engagement Platform to amplify dissemination of safe digital payments and conduct awareness programmes on Cyber Safety.

Paytm also offers safe and secure money transfers. With UPI emerging as the most popular mode of mobile payments, Paytm has created blogs on secure UPI transactions while its support section on the website lists out safe ways through which money transfer can be done. The company also launched Paytm Payment Protect, an insurance cover to safeguard UPI payments.

One97 Communication Limited’s associate Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) has created a separate web page on fraud prevention to ensure safe banking for users apart from blogs and social media campaigns.

ESET Launches Safer Kids Online Platform in India to Safeguard Children’s Cyber Safety

ESET, a global leader in digital security, today launches its Safer Kids Online platform – a resource site dedicated to building a safer online environment for children in India. The website offers resources - in the form of videos, articles and expert insight - for children, parents and teachers with the aim to enable children to enjoy the full potential of the internet in a secure digital world.

Protecting Kids Online

As a result of the shift to digitalisation that has been accelerated by the pandemic, children today can access digital devices and online platforms for various activities, ranging from online learning and video streaming to online games and social media. However, this also puts them at greater risk of encountering online threats. Against this backdrop, it is critical to provide children with guidance, and equip them with the essential skills to remain safe while navigating in an online environment.

According to the ESET APAC Consumer Cybersecurity Survey 2021, 94% of parents in India take various actions such as using parental control applications, checking internet browser history and limiting screen time to ensure that their children are safe from online threats. Despite the actions taken, 21% of Indian parents said their children had been exposed to inappropriate content online. In addition, 78% of them have not spoken to their children about cybersecurity.

"Cybersecurity can be a relatively new concept for some parents, as it was not taught in schools in the past. The Safer Kids Online initiative aims to empower parents, teachers and children in India to learn more about cyber wellness and how kids can stay safe online by providing free resources and materials. These materials – which are jointly developed by ESET’s cybersecurity experts and child psychologists - are designed to be fun and engaging for children across all ages. Through this initiative, we hope to play a role in protecting the safety and well-being of children online, and we remain committed to keeping the Internet safe for everyone,” said Parvinder Walia, President of Asia Pacific and Japan, ESET.

Resources for children, parents and teachers

The Safer Kids Online website includes a host of resources suitable for younger children, teenagers and their parents, which have all been developed in consultation with a notable child psychologist and ESET’s cybersecurity experts. The resources will provide guidance and advice for children and adults around how to stay safe online and will be geared around key monthly topics. The topics include how to manage screen time, looking out for signs of cyberbullying and protecting children from online predators. Each of these monthly topics will include targeted resources for different ages such as:

• A video series for kids aimed at ages 7+
• Animated comics for older children aged 11+
• An in-depth explanation in the form of expert articles and vlogs for parents

Quizzes and prize contests will also be available in which parents can win attractive prizes for their children.

The Safer Kids Online site will also provide free software, namely ESET Parental Control for Android, which allows parents to look after their children’s online well-being. ESET Parental Control includes the possibility of controlling inappropriate web content and managing the amount of time kids spend on certain devices, as well as the suitability of the applications they’re using. This allows parents to limit their child’s use of certain sites and receive reports on his or her online activities, hopefully becoming aware of any issues before they become entrenched.

Looking to the future

ESET’s future plans include running child online safety initiatives in regions around the world – from Europe and Asia to the USA and Latin America – in cooperation with its partners and local NGOs. With so many resources at the fingertips of families across the globe, ESET will provide parents and schools everywhere with the tools they need to keep their kids safe online – now and in the future.

The first country running such cooperation is the United Kingdom. ESET UK has come on board as a Gold Partner alongside specialist child safety NGO Internet Matters, providing significant contribution to guide policy and to educate. In 2020, ESET also became an official partner of AFC Bournemouth’s Community Sports Trust, which saw ESET specialists providing support for the club’s Safer Kids Online Internet safety project.

Importance of Real-time Tracking & How to Stay Safe from Online Scams - Explained by Blockchain.com

Social media can be a useful way to connect with others, stay informed and express yourself. However, the recent news also highlights the fact that hackers try to exploit social media security holes to their advantage.

Twitter experienced a significant security breach when some of the world’s most widely followed Verified Accounts — including those of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Elon Musk — started posting content linked to a crypto scam. 

The Twitter security team removed most of the fraudulent Tweets but unfortunately not before some people were persuaded to send bitcoin to addresses being shared by the perpetrators. An important fact to note in this online scam is that Blockchain.com wallets were not used in this scam .

By using the Blockchain.com Explorer, anyone can look up the balance of the addresses the attackers used. As all bitcoin transactions are publicly viewable, anyone can track the scam in real time. At the time of this writing, over $117,000 worth of bitcoin from 401 transactions were sent to the following two addresses: (addresses are hyperlinked below)

Address 1

Address 2

Caution is the name of the game. Blockchain.com has released a note which states ' Treat all offers of investment advice, mining opportunities, unofficial giveaway chances, or any ‘get rich quick’ scheme with the utmost caution. Blockchain.com will never offer these ‘opportunities.’ Any official cryptoasset airdrop we conduct will only occur directly in the Blockchain.com Wallet or Exchange to verified users in the Airdrop center'.

If one spots or suspect a scam, one can report the profile pages to the relevant platform (in this case Twitter) and inform the Blockchain.com team too. The company aims to help remove fraudulent scams and profiles. Blockchain.com's support team conducts all customer communication through our Support Center and will only respond on its verified social media accounts.

Keep yourself + others safe:

• Never share your recovery phrase with anyone — especially over social media.
• Avoid contact with any Facebook group, page, or profile claiming to represent Blockchain.com or our support team.
• Report any suspicious activity to our Support Center, as well as the social media platforms themselves

Email Verification: Verifying your email address allows us to send login codes when suspicious or unusual activity is detected, to remind you of your wallet login ID, and to send bitcoin payment alerts when you receive funds.

Set up Two-Factor Authentication Enable two-factor authentication via SMS code, Yubikey, or Google Authenticator to further protect the wallet from unauthorized access.

Write Down Your Backup Phrase: It is the key to ensuring users' access to respective funds if one forgets his or her password .

A Study Finds that 53% Indians Faced Online Abuse on Social Media Platforms

#BeAware, a study conducted by Social Media Matters, Do Your Thing and Institute for Governance, Policies, and Politics revealed that 53% Indians have faced online abuse on Social Media Platforms. Out of these, only 66% reported the incident to the platform, from which 52% reported the cyber crime to the police as well. 

Nearly half of the population of planet earth is actively using the digital spaces to communicate and connect with the global audience. #BeAware studied the awareness and perception of community guidelines and social media reporting mechanisms present on social media. The questionnaire included open and close-ended questions for the participants to share their experiences. A total of 1067 users participated in the study from across India between the period of December 2019 to January 2020.

Institute for Governance, Policies & Politics (IGPP) in their statement said that the research study was done to understand the efficacy of reporting mechanism and community guidelines of social media platforms. It has analysed the responses of nearly a thousand participants based on their experience, perception, and feedback particularly on the issue of hate speech, online abuse, and online financial fraud.

The respondents are covered across states, age-groups, and gender. It is found that online users in the age-group of 22-25 are more exposed followed by above 30. Furthermore, nearly half of the participants are female and transgender who faced such negative experience largely and also reported the case more than male members. However, most netizens are of the opinion that there is a need to raise awareness of reporting mechanism and community guidelines of social media platforms through various methods such as online safety workshop.

The study also stated that 53% of Indian Online Users are not aware of the existing community guidelines by Social Media Platforms. These guidelines primarily set the tone and state policies of the social media platform to deal with violation of rules, illicit cyber behaviour, etc. on social media platforms. 62% of the respondents said that they are aware of the reporting mechanisms but a large number i.e. 73% users recommending escalation of initiatives to raise awareness about community guidelines and reporting mechanisms. 

Commenting on the outcomes of this study, Amitabh Kumar, Founder of Social Media Matters quoted, “More than half the users on social media platforms have faced some kind of abuse, this is not acceptable! To realize our dream for #DigitalIndia it is essential that we make cyberspaces safe. There is a lot of work to be done by Social Media Platforms to achieve this."

53% of the respondents also believed that some improvisations are required to build an efficient reporting mechanism on the Social Media Platforms. #BeAware also gathered user’s recommendations to raise awareness regarding the reporting mechanism of social media in India. 24% respondents believed that offline awareness will help in letting users know about them, 23% believed that online awareness will do the needful and 23% of the respondents selected a combination of various methods to increase awareness.

About Social Media Matters:

A team of Young, Feminist, Social Media Ninjas, working for Social Change. True believers in technology we have been empowering diverse groups. We specialize in all aspects of online safety, from policy to capacity building. We have done Internet safety workshops across India and the globe, created innovative tech solutions such for positive use of social media.

To Promote Online Safety, TikTok partners with Indian Institute of Mass Communication

New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) Chinese short-form video platform TikTok on Monday said it has partnered with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) to train budding media professionals on existing industry-wide challenges faced due to evolving social media landscape in India.

Under the partnership, TikTok and the IIMC will organise a series of workshops with students and professors of the educational institute across its six regional campuses over the next two months, starting August 26, a statement said.

These workshops will be implemented by Youth Ki Awaaz, an online community for social issues. The workshops will feature a curriculum that incorporates insights and learnings shared by thought leaders from new media, internet-based companies and educational institutional community.

The workshops will focus on aspects like responsible and safe use of the internet, combating misinformation on the internet and the role that can be played in creating a positive online environment.

The initiative is part of TikTok's '#WaitASecToReflect' ongoing campaign to promote responsible online conduct among India's netizens.

"We believe that as the media landscape evolves, there is a need to equip, and educate aspiring media professionals about their role as enablers of positive impact on society," IIMC Director General KS Dhatwalia said.

Through this academic partnership, the aim is to train the next generation of media professionals about various nuances of news and information consumption on digital platforms, he added.

"We believe in building relationships that would help further develop and support this industry-wide mission to actively train young professionals to help them become more informed digital citizens and promote online safety," TikTok Director of Public Policy (India) Nitin Saluja said.

Previously, TikTok had announced partnerships with Uttarakhand Police Department and Kerala Police to help these organisations connect better with citizens.

TikTok, which allows people to create short videos and share them, had its share of troubles in the Indian market where it has 200 million users.

Last month, the Indian government had issued notices to TikTok and Helo along with a set of 24 questions regarding the alleged misuse of their platforms for "anti-national activities" in India. The company had responded to the notice.

In April, the Madras High Court had directed the Centre to ban TikTok app, saying it was evident from media reports that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through such mobile apps. The order was later lifted and the app was back on app stores. PTI SR

TikTok Launches ‘Device Management’ to Help Users Stay Safe Online

TikTok, world’s leading short video platform, today announced the launch of ‘Device Management’, its latest safety feature that enables users to have complete control of their account. With safety being a key priority at TikTok, the launch of the device management feature is a part of TikTok’s ongoing safety initiative.

Using this feature, TikTok users will be able to end sessions or remove their accounts from other devices from within the TikTok app to better manage their safety of their account. This feature will help avoid the misuse of user accounts.



TikTok constantly promotes a safe and positive app experience for its over 200 million users in India by offering them in-app tools and educational content to equip them with all the information they need to have the best possible experience while showcasing their creativity. The new feature further empowers them to manage their online presence in a wise and safe way and choose the sessions they want to end.

TikTok’s ongoing commitment to online safety in India



Device Management feature is an addition to TikTok’s existing suite of 13 industry leading safety features, which are designed to protect our Indian users. Features like age gate, restricted mode, screen time management, comments filter and safety centre are helping users to safely showcase their creative expression through their videos.

Furthermore, as part of ongoing education for users, TikTok has released a series of educational videos in Hindi and English to help our users understand and learn the workings of our industry leading 14 safety features. The video is curated to be fun and easy to understand with useful information on safety guidelines and tools for our Indian users.

As a platform that celebrates trends and embraces diversity, TikTok has become the preferred platform for expression, given its lowered boundaries for sharing, creating, discovering — all made easy on mobile of over 200 million Indian users.

As it continues to nurture its growing diverse global community, TikTok will continue to launch new tools and initiatives to support the creation of a positive and safe app environment, where users can express themselves and have fun. For more information about TikTok’s safety efforts, please visit: https://www.TikTok.com/safety/.

Google Launches Indian Teens Campaign For Safer Web

As part of the India Digital Literacy and Internet Safety Campaign, Google India announced the launch of Web Rangers, which is a program that empowers teens to promote the safe use of the Internet among their peers.

Web Rangers will provide training to help teens create their cyber safety campaign to enable themselves and their peers think about their online behaviour and how to keep each other safe online. The program will take young people aged between 14 -17, representing 50 schools in Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi through training workshops that will equip them with knowledge in online safety. The New Delhi workshop is being held today, with the first workshop for students in Hyderabad already having been taken place on 27th November 2014 and in Bangalore on the 4th of February 2015.

In addition, the program will also introduce a contest where students across the country will be given twelve weeks to create and run their own online safety campaigns, encouraging young people in their schools and communities to consider issues such as the effects of cyber-bullying, managing one's own digital footprint and online tricks and scams.

These youth-created online or offline educational campaigns can take any form, including online videos and other social media content, sketches and in-school events. The creators of the most creative and impactful internet safety campaign as chosen from this contest, will head to Delhi to present their work to a panel of judges. The winners of the contest will be announced in May of 2015.

Sunita Mohanty, Director of Product Quality Operations at Google India says “Young people use the web for everything from connecting with friends to doing their homework. This puts them in the best position to share with their peers what’s acceptable and what’s not—in language that other young people will respect and understand.”

"Web Rangers have the ability to reach out to hundreds, if not thousands, of their peers. We hope that teens talking to teens about this important topic will make a meaningful impact”.

Web Rangers is a part of a global program that Google has run in countries including New Zealand, Israel, Turkey and the Czech Republic.