Government and charities announce ‘alliance’ against harmful social media content 

The government and a number of Danish charities have joined forces in an “alliance” aimed at protecting children from harmful content on social media and damaging tech giant algorithms, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview with newspaper Politiken.

“We have started the biggest experiment ever in children’s rooms – probably the biggest ever – without knowing what we wanted from it and without knowing its reach. Now it’s about standing up for our children before it’s too late,” she said.

The organisations included in the alliance are Red Barnet (Save the Children Denmark), Børns Vilkår and Dansk Ungdoms Fællesråd (Danish Youth Council).

One of the aims of the group is a Europe-wide ban on targeted ads and content for kids.

Vocabulary: målrettet – targeted

Transport operator website down

Transport users in Copenhagen and Zealand were yesterday evening unable to check travel information on the website of operator DOT, whose website was out of action.

The website was functional again as of Monday morning.

On Facebook, DOT stated they were working to resolve the problem. The reason for it was unknown, however.

The DOT app was unaffected, meaning tickets could still be purchased on smart phones.

Vocabulary: nedbrud – breakdown

Minister wants to simplify job centre procedures

The employment minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said in a press statement yesterday that procedures for both businesses and individuals using job centres should be simplified.

That came after an analysis by the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment that it takes 80 clicks on job centre websites to register a work placement and 40 to register an interview.

“There’s no doubt that the rules in the area of employment are generally too complex, “the minister said in the statement.

“The government is focused on clearing the jungle of rules and this analysis supports the necessity of this,” she said.

New recommendations are set to be presented by the employment ministry today. The government has a stated target to close job centres and replace them with a new system by 2030.

Police investigate after shots fired in Copenhagen district 

Copenhagen Police were called out to an incident in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro neighbourhood last night after receiving several reports of shots being fired.

“We have not found anyone hit but we have observations that tell us shots have been fired,” duty officer Martin Kajberg told newswire Ritzau.

The reports were received round 30 minutes after midnight. No arrests have so far been made.

Vocabulary: anholdelser – arrests