ITU Selects Saudi Arabia to Host Global Symposium for Regulators in 2025

The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
TT

ITU Selects Saudi Arabia to Host Global Symposium for Regulators in 2025

The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announced that Saudi Arabia, represented by the Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST), has been selected to host the upcoming Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) 2025 in Riyadh, as part of the symposium’s work in its edition of this year.

Since its inception more than 20 years ago, the symposium is a global event targeting decision and policy makers and regulators around the world.

The event is held annually and organized by the ITU in which it gathers a number of ministers and heads of national bodies regulating the communications and technology sector as well as sector leaders. It focuses on workers in the digital field from 193 countries, and discusses the most prominent challenges and solutions to issues of digital policies and regulations at the international level.

The selection of the Kingdom represented by the CST to host the event reflects the international community’s confidence in Saudi contributions in achieving the goals of the ITU and its pioneering role in the sector.



French Families Sue TikTok over Alleged Failure to Remove Harmful Content

A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. (Reuters)
A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. (Reuters)
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French Families Sue TikTok over Alleged Failure to Remove Harmful Content

A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. (Reuters)
A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. (Reuters)

Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content that led to two of them taking their own lives at 15, their lawyer said on Monday.

The lawsuit alleges TikTok's algorithm exposed the seven teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion told broadcaster franceinfo.

The families are taking joint legal action in the Créteil judicial court. Boutron-Marmion said it was the first such grouped case in Europe.

"The parents want TikTok's legal liability to be recognized in court", she said, adding: "This is a commercial company offering a product to consumers who are, in addition, minors. They must, therefore, answer for the product's shortcomings."

TikTok, like other social media platforms, has long faced scrutiny over the policing of content on its app.

As with Meta's Facebook and Instagram, it faces hundreds of lawsuits in the US accusing them of enticing and addicting millions of children to their platforms, damaging their mental health.

TikTok could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegations.

The company has previously said it took issues that were linked to children's mental health seriously. CEO Shou Zi Chew this year told US lawmakers the company has invested in measures to protect young people who use the app.