children

BOMBSHELL unheard audio of Michael Jackson sharing his deepest “intimate” thoughts on children will be revealed in a new documentary.

In the chilling voice recordings, the music legend can be heard discussing his deep-seated feelings on his infatuation with kids.

During one alarming moment Jackson even admitted that if he could not be close to children he would take his own life, according to the New York Post.

“If you told me right now . . . Michael, you could never see another child…I would kill myself,” he reportedly said.

“Children want to just touch me and hug me.

“Kids end up falling in love with my personality. Sometimes it gets me into trouble.”

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The unsettling recordings alongside a number of never-before-seen tapes have been secured for a four-part Channel 4 series called The Trial.

Set to premiere on February 4, the docuseries details new revelations from the pop icon’s 2005 child molestation trial.

Shedding new light on Jackson’s relationship with child cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo, who later accused him of sexual abuse, unseen footage shows their pair going on picnics alone together.

Gavin accused him of sexual molestation in 2005, saying Jackson showed him pornography and gave him alcohol.

The star – who admitted to sharing his bed with kids – was cleared of all 14 charges, including four counts of molesting a child, four counts of getting a child drunk so that he could molest him, and of secretly conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive at his California ranch, Neverland.

He was also charged with supplying alcohol to the boy, now 15.

The New York Post spoke to an insider who had heard the recordings.

“There is something extremely unusual and eerie about Michael Jackson’s infatuation with children – especially those who are not his own,” they said.

“To hear his voice discuss children in this manner, given he had been accused on molestation, raises many questions about his mental health, mindset and sadly, intentions.

“This is Michael at his most open giving us an insight into how he was in love with children . . . infatuated with wanting to be around them,” they added.

Continuing on, the insider said Jackson saw “nothing wrong with bringing kids to his home and his bed without parental supervision”.

“[He justified] those actions by saying he is a just a friend looking to help,” they said.

“He even went further — expressing how most of the spoiled children fell in love with him.

“These are very uneasy phrases and language to hear from a single man in his 40s.”

The insider said the footage also showed how Jackson cared for Gavin throughout his cancer battle.

“Many doctors felt that his diagnosis was terminal, but Michael never gave up hope,” they said.

“Michael described how he told Gavin he looked like an angel to him. The way that these could have been interpreted are fascinating.”

Executive producer Tom Anstiss said: “The unheard audio tapes of Michael Jackson offer a rare and privileged window into Michael’s psyche and his soul”.

He said The Trial would “deliver a new understanding of who Michael Jackson really was, what he thought and the seismic moments that shaped his life”.

“The tapes are emotionally raw and very real,” he said.

“At points, you can hear Michael is close to tears.”

Jackson’s former public relations advisor appears in the show, revealing that he “absolutely” believed the allegations against the popstar, according to the Telegraph.

“I believe there was a cover-up for so many years,” he said. 

Jackson’s estate still vehemently denies all child molestation accusations against him.

He had three children of his own, Prince, Bigi (formerly Blanket) and Paris.

The trio have described him as “the best father you could ever imagine”, according to People.

Jackson died of an overdose on a prescription anaesthetic four years after the trial concluded.

Regulator launches investigation into US gaming platform over potential risks to underage users in the EU.

The Dutch consumer watchdog has launched an investigation into Roblox to see if the popular online gaming system is doing enough to protect children from exposure to violent and sexual imagery.

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) said on Friday its probe would examine “potential risks to underage users in the EU” and would likely last about one year.

“The platform regularly makes the news, for example, due to concerns about violent or sexually explicit games that minors are exposed to,” the ACM said in a statement.

Other concerns include reports of “ill-intentioned” adults targeting children on the platform and the use of misleading techniques to encourage purchases.

The ACM said that, having received reports of such allegations, it “considers this sufficient reason to launch a formal investigation into possible violations of the rules by Roblox”.

New measures

Under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), platforms must take “appropriate and proportionate measures” to ensure a high level of safety and privacy for minors.

The ACM said it could impose a “binding instruction, fine, or penalty” on Roblox if it concludes the rules have been broken.

In 2024, the ACM slapped a 1.1-million-euro ($1.2m) fine on Fortnite maker Epic Games, judging that vulnerable children were exploited and pressured into making purchases in the game’s Item Shop.

A Roblox spokesperson said the company is “strongly committed to complying with the EU Digital Services Act” and referred to the gaming platform’s announcement last November that it would require age verification via facial recognition to limit communication between children and adults.

“We look forward to providing the ACM with further clarity on the many policies and safeguards we have in place to protect minors,” the spokesperson said.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Legislators in France took the first step toward becoming the first European country to block children from social media with a ban that would take effect at the beginning of the new school year in September.

National Assembly members voted 116-23 for the ban for children younger than 15, which was introduced by a lawmaker representing France’s Champagne region in President Emmanuel Macron‘s Renaissance party, late Monday.

The MPs amended the bill to empower the country’s media regulator to decide which social media services will be included in the ban and not limited to just those most popular with teens such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.

The law would use an as-yet-undecided method of age-verification to block children from accessing those sites the regulator determines are most harmful to children’s mental and emotional health.

An existing smartphone ban for children in junior and middle schools would also be extended to high schools, under the legislation.

Children younger than 15 would be permitted to continue to use platforms on a second list deemed to pose less risk to them, but only if their parents give their consent.

Hailing the vote as a “major step,” Macron urged the Senate, the upper house, where it must also pass to become law, to follow suit and vowed to make sure it was implemented in time for the start of the fall semester.

“To ensure that this ban is effective from the start of the next academic year, I have asked the government to activate the accelerated procedure,” he posted on X.

“Because our children’s brains are not for sale. Not to American platforms, nor to Chinese networks. Because their dreams cannot be dictated by algorithms. Because we do not want an anxious generation,” Macron added.

Fastracking the law will enable it to leapfrog over a logjam in the assembly which has been unable to pass a budget for this year.

National Assembly Deputy Laure Miller, sponsor of the bill, complained afterward that opponents attempted to run the debate, which went on for almost seven hours, off the clock, knowing they would lose when it came to a vote.

“We explained everything to you, but you didn’t want to listen. Obstruction, off-topic remarks, conspiracy-laden speeches… above all, you tried everything to avoid having to vote on this text. Pathetic,” she wrote online.

Miller headed a committee probe into the psychological impact of social media on children that issued its report earlier this month.

MP Louis Boyard from the populist France Insoumise party said the bill had been rushed through.

By granting blanket verification powers to the government and the European Union to check the ages of all social media users, regardless of age, Macronist deputies were sleepwalking France into a surveillance state,” he said on X.

“The Macronists refused to respond or speak in order to have it voted on as quickly as possible. Under the pretext of banning social networks for those under 15, the Macronists seem to be preparing to have everyone monitored.”

He urged the Senate to send it back to the assembly to allow a “more enlightened” public debate to take place.

“The subject is too important to be rushed,” added Boyard, who represents a different district of the same region as Miller.

The development in France comes amid similar efforts being weighed across Europe, including in Greece, Spain, Denmark, Ireland, and Britain, where the House of Lords voted through a ban for children under 16 on Wednesday.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber of parliament passed the amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill by 261 votes to 150, however, the government signaled it intended to overturn the effort in the House of Commons, the lower house.

The move came two days after the government launched a consultation on a potential ban for under-16s in the wake of the lead taken by Australia, which last month became the first Western country to implement such a ban.

Jan. 26 (UPI) — French President Emmanuel Macron wants children under the age of 15 off of social media by the start of the next school year and lawmakers are ready to consider it on Monday.

Parliament member Laure Miller will bring a bill to the table on Monday that would bar children under 15 from using social media. The bill would also ban smartphones from all high schools.

Miller headed the parliamentary committee that investigated the psychological effects of social media on children last year. The committee determined that exposure to social media can have an affect on mental health.

Macron has asked lawmakers to move quickly on the bill, hoping to see it in effect by the start of the next school year.

“Our children and teens’ brains are not for sale,” Macron said in a video statement. “Our children and teens’ emotions are not for sale or to be manipulated. Not by American platforms or Chinese algorithms.”

If the law passes, France would join Australia in restricting children’s access to social media. Australia enacted a social media ban for children under 16 years old in December.

Similar measures are being discussed throughout Europe.

Under France’s proposed law, its media regulators would draft a list of social media platforms to be banned outright for children under the age of 15. These would be the platforms that regulators consider the most harmful to the mental and emotional health of children.

Regulators would draft a second list of platforms that they consider less harmful. These sites would be accessible with the permission of a parent.

The bill’s first test is in parliament, which must approve the text. If the text passes, it will move to the Senate chamber in February.

France mulled a similar social media ban in 2023 but the courts ruled it did not comply with the laws of the European Union, specifically the Digital Services Act.

The guidelines of the Digital Services Act were loosened last year, giving governments more leeway to set age limits for social media use.