Warning over ‘Wild West Web’
SOCIAL media giants are operating like the ‘Wild West’ after a surge in paedophiles on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, according to children’s charity the NSPCC. Predators have been recorded grooming children online 5,161 times in the first 18 months since it was made a crime, police figures reveal.
There were nearly 2,000 grooming cases in the six months to September 2018 alone – ten a day.
Girls aged 12 to 15 are most at risk but paedophiles have targeted children as young as five, according to records for 39 police forces in England and Wales, the NSPCC said. The records revealed that in seven out of ten grooming cases, the predator contacted their victim over Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat.
Instagram was by far the most dangerous platform, used in almost a third of cases, after a jump in the number of paedophiles flocking to the Facebook-owned platform.
Yesterday, NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said the figures offered ‘overwhelming evidence’ that the ‘Wild West Web’ must be tamed.
He said: ‘These figures are overwhelming evidence that keeping children safe cannot be left to social networks.
‘We cannot wait for the next tragedy before tech companies are made to act.’
Taking aim at Instagram, he added: ‘It is vital the platform designs basic protection more carefully into the service.’
Online grooming was only made illegal in April 2017, when the crime of sexual communication with a child came into force.
Facebook said: ‘Keeping young people safe is our top priority and child exploitation of any kind is not allowed.’
Snapchat did not respond to a request for comment.
ANOTHER day, another badge of shame for the amoral mega-rich social media giants.
Online leviathans again stand accused of complacency, this time allowing paedophiles to prey on children as young as five. Chillingly, predators lurk on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat to groom victims.
Time and again, the firms are confronted over nauseating child abuse images, jihadist beheading videos and ‘suicide porn’.
Faced with these horrors most multimillionaire executives barely show an iota of repentance. True, YouTube has promised to disable comments on videos featuring young children. But many utter warm words and unblushingly turn a blind eye.
If ever there was evidence that keeping children safe cannot be left to the ‘Wild West Web’, here it is. As the NSPCC says, we cannot wait for the next tragedy before forcing tech companies to act.