The number of online grooming crimes against children has reached a distressing record high in the past year, according to recent police figures. A total of 6,350 cases of sexual communication with a child were recorded in the year leading up to March 2023, indicating an alarming 82% increase since the offence was initially defined in 2017.
The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) has highlighted the pressing need for enhanced safeguards to protect children from online grooming. The organization emphasizes the significance of the Online Safety Bill’s proposed “ground-breaking protections,” even as tech giants express concerns over privacy and security.
Data obtained by the NSPCC through freedom of information requests has revealed approximately 34,000 online grooming offences reported by UK police forces over the past six years. The charity further revealed that a quarter of the victims were children under the age of 12, with girls being targeted in 83% of cases where gender was known.
The study also highlighted the prominent role of various social apps in these grooming incidents. Snapchat was used in 26% of cases, while Meta’s platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were implicated in 47% of instances where the means of communication was identified. Disturbingly, 150 different games, apps, and websites were found to be utilized to target children.
One survivor’s harrowing account sheds light on the manipulative tactics used by groomers. A 19-year-old woman, groomed at the age of 15, shared her story of being manipulated by a man posing as a boy on Yubo, a French social networking app. The predator coerced her into sending explicit photos, subsequently using them to exert control over her actions.
The NSPCC urged social media companies to assume greater responsibility in protecting children from online exploitation. Sir Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the NSPCC, underscored the urgency of the situation and the necessity of the Online Safety Bill’s provisions. The bill seeks to hold social media companies and search engines accountable for content published on their platforms.
Despite delays since its initial submission in 2019, the bill is set to undergo its final debate in the House of Lords next month. While some aspects of the bill, such as the proposal to allow UK regulators to scan messages, have faced opposition from messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal due to privacy concerns, the NSPCC highlighted the importance of strengthening legislation to prevent further exploitation of children online.
The NSPCC called upon tech companies to take immediate action to ensure their platforms do not place children at risk of abuse. As the prevalence of online grooming reaches unprecedented levels, the urgency to protect vulnerable children from such exploitation has never been more evident.
