POLICE figures reveal a rise in online child sex crimes of 28pc in the North West during the first six months of lockdown, raising fears the pandemic is fuelling long-term changes to the threat of online child abuse.
In the North West, recorded online child sex offences also rose by 28%, compared with the same time period the previous year
Forces in the region also recorded a 33% increase in crimes relating to obscene publications (including child sexual abuse images), and a 14% increase in sexual grooming offences.
The NSPCC is now warning tech firms to stop pressing ahead with dangerous decisions that further increase the risk for children and a crucial Online Safety Bill must hold firms accountable for the harm caused by their design choices.
The NSPCC believe the stats show the heightened risk children have faced from child abusers online during the pandemic, with Coronavirus resulting in significant online harms to children driven by a historic failure to make platforms safe.
They warned the pandemic is fuelling long-term changes to the online child abuse threat.
High-risk livestreaming and video chat is becoming more popular amongst young people alongside a greater demand for sexual abuse images and increased opportunities for offenders to groom children.
The charity said it shows the huge importance of the Government’s upcoming Online Safety Bill, which will enforce a Duty of Care on tech firms, legally compelling them to do far more to protect children on their sites.
The figures come as the NSPCC calls on tech firms to halt dangerous design decisions that put children at even greater risk.
For example, Facebook stopped scanning for child abuse images and grooming across Europe in December due to its interpretation of changes to EU legislation which allows proactive scanning using technology to combat child abuse.
This is a clear break from the rest of the industry which committed to continue scanning until clarifying legislation can be agreed in Brussels.
The NSPCC labelled Facebook’s decision a ‘pretext to rolling out end-to-end encryption’ across its messaging platforms. Since they stopped scanning there has been a 46% drop in reports about online child abuse in the EU.
Law enforcement agencies, child protection experts and the Home Office have long warned that end-to-end encryption without safeguards in place to protect children would seriously hamper efforts to tackle abuse and bring offenders to justice.
Andy Burrows, Head of Child Safety Online Policy said: “It’s clear that the pandemic has increased the demand for child abuse images, and the grooming and sexual abuse of children that creates them.
“It’s astonishing that at this time of heightened risk, instead of making every effort to combat these crimes, some tech firms seem to be paving the way for abuse to go unchecked with commercial decisions that trade off children’s safety and put them at even greater risk.
“The Government’s upcoming Online Safety Bill comes at a crucial time. It can lead to ground-breaking protections for children if it gives the regulator the power and agility to hold tech firms accountable if their design choices make their platforms unsafe.”
