Social media companies are inadequately protecting their platforms from being ‘hotbeds’ for the sexual abuse of children, the National Crime Agency has said. They say there are over 500,000 people in the UK who actively pose a serious sexual risk to children.
A spokesperson for the agency said the sexual exploitation of children online ‘is increasing in scale, severity, and complexity’, as the industry is ‘detecting and reporting an increasing number of illegal images year on year’.
The vast volume of media, when viewed in light of the fact that there are 500,000-800,000 paedophiles who actively pose a danger to UK children, means that ‘the threat to children is more severe than it has ever been’.
They then, highlight, that despite these markers of concern social media companies have not yet made shifts to reduce these threats. They stress tackling such abuse is not ‘solely a law enforcement issue’, and that they require co-operation with these companies.
The comments come as the government’s Online Safety Bill, which aims to further safeguard children online continues to progress through Parliament. The legislation will attribute social media management with criminal liability if they fail in executing their duty to shield children from harmful content.
The NCA said: “Technology and the internet continues to be used by those who have a sexual interest in children to perpetrate child sexual abuse. The sheer volume of child sexual abuse material available online creates a permissive environment for offenders to develop their sexual interest in children.
This environment has an extremely low bar of entry and allows offenders to meet other like-minded individuals who normalise their behaviour, often leading to an escalation of offending to contact abuse.”
NCA highlight the danger of children being tricked, bullied, or coerced into distributing sexual media of themselves by an offender actively grooming them online. They also highlight that ‘virtual reality’ spaces like the Metaverse pose similar threats with even less safety measures.
