It has been revealed that police forces record an average of more than 100 child sexual abuse image offences each day.
Data recently released by the Home Office shows that police forces across England and Wales recorded a total of 38,685 child sexual abuse image offences in the year from 1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024, equating to more than 100 everyday.
Private messaging apps involved in most child sexual abuse image crimes
The NSPCC has also revealed that a separate Freedom of Information request they submitted shows that, of the 7,338 offences where police recorded the platform used by perpetrators, exactly half of these crimes took place on Snapchat.
In addition, the data also revealed that a quarter of child sexual abuse image offences took place on Meta-owned products, with 11% occurring on Instagram, 7% on Facebook and 6% on Whatsapp.
This means that private messaging apps are involved in more child sexual abuse image crimes than any other platform.
Now a collective of children’s charities have warned:
“Perpetrators exploit the secrecy offered by these spaces to harm children and go undetected.”
Charities want tougher action to prevent child sexual abuse image crimes
The NSPCC has joined forces with Barnardo’s, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse, and the Marie Collins Foundation to urge the government to tackle the issue.
The charity partners have written a joint letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and DSIT Secretary of State Peter Kyle urging them to strengthen Ofcom’s approach to private messaging.
The letter expresses their collective concern that Ofcom’s final Illegal Harms Code of Practice, published in December 2024, is not strong enough to protect children from the worst forms of abuse on private messaging platforms. This is despite the fact this was a key aim of the Online Safety Act.
Currently, Ofcom has stated that user-to-user services are required to remove illegal content where it is “technically feasible.”
The NSPCC and other charities argue that this “creates an unacceptable loophole, allowing some services to avoid delivering the most basic protections for children.”
They want to government to push Ofcom to review and strengthen their codes of practice to improve children’s safety online.
They also want those who operate private messaging services to “make sure there are robust safeguards in place to ensure their platforms do not act as a ‘safe haven’ for perpetrators of child sexual abuse.”
The letter continues:
“End-to-end encryption is a secure communication system where only communicating users can participate. This means that service providers can be blinded to child sexual abuse material being shared through their platform.”
Child protection systems lacks the tools it needs
The CEO of the NSPCC, Chris Sherwood, said:
“There should be no greater priority for the government than ensuring our children can grow up safe and well. But, as it stands, the child protection system does not have all the tools it needs to take on this challenge.
“Public sector services are under significant strain and statutory funding is struggling to keep up with demand — with children and families experiencing the fall out from the lack of available early, preventive help and the vital services they rely on for support. But there are ways to turn the current situation around — our Six Point Plan to Protect Children lays out both the scale of the problems and a range of solutions.
“The NSPCC will play our part in transforming childhoods through our own services, partnerships, research and advocacy. But we cannot achieve the level of change needed without significant action by political leaders and government.
“Crucially, as the government delivers its Plan for Change, the voices of children and young people need to be heard in the corridors of power and help shape the decisions directly affecting them. The event we hosted today showed that politicians across the divide recognise this and are listening. Now we need to respond to what children and young people are telling us about their lives and – together – take the action needed to stop child abuse and neglect.”
The NSPCCC’s confidential helpline for children, Childline, delivered over 900 counselling sessions last year to children and young people regarding blackmail or threats to expose or share sexual images online. This represented a 7% increase compared to the previous year, and is further evidence of how young people are targeted for abuse on private messaging apps.
Childline and IWF have developed a Report Remove tool to help young people under 18 report sexual images or videos that have been shared online to try to get them removed.
Childline is also available 24/7 for children and young people who need someone to speak to, with a free to call 0800 1111 phone number and an online counsellor chat service.
Training to safeguard children and young people
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading national training provider delivering courses in subjects such as health and safety, first aid, fire safety, manual handling, food hygiene, mental health, health and social care, safeguarding and more.
They work with a large number of early years, schools and childcare providers, as well as colleges, youth groups and children’s services. Their courses include Safeguarding Children.
A trainer from FRT says:
“Safeguarding children means protecting them off and online and being aware of new and developing technologies and how children may be interacting with these, and how they intersect with issues of child safety and protection.
“It’s so important that we are mindful of the harms children and young people are exposed to when they use technology and that there are mechanisms in place to protect them, and to offer them help and support when they need it most. Children who are anxious about technology and things they have seen or experienced online need to feel they have a safe space where they can talk about their worries and experiences.
“It’s vital that anyone who works with children and young people is aware of their responsibility for safeguarding children and that they can recognise the signs that indicate a child may be experiencing abuse, including online grooming, harassment or sextortion, and know the correct action to take in response.”
For more information on the training that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.