Half of online sex crime occurs on Facebook apps
NEARLY half of online child sex crimes reported to police happened on Facebook’s apps, the NSPCC has found as the children’s charity warned the social network could become a “one-stop grooming shop” if it goes ahead with encryption plans.
Police figures obtained by the charity revealed that of 9,259 incidents reported in England and Wales last year 43 per cent (4,027) happened on Facebook, its sister site Instagram and its apps Whatsapp and Messenger – the equivalent of 11 a day.
The NSPCC warned that thousands of future reports could go undetected if Facebook moves ahead with plans to encrypt its Messenger app, meaning even it will be unable to see what’s being sent in messages.
The plans have been condemned, with Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, this year accusing Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, of creating a “digital blind spot” where paedophiles and terrorists will be able to hide their “despicable” crimes.
As well as making it harder for Facebook to detect child abuse, the NSPCC warned encrypting Messenger would make it easier for abusers to groom children, as it would enable them to move Facebook conversations to the encrypted app.
The NSPCC also called for Facebook to face “tough consequences” under the Government’s proposed duty of care laws – measures the Telegraph campaigned for – if it could not guarantee children’s safety after implementing encryption.
Andy Burrows, the NSPCC head of child safety online policy, said: “Instead of working to protect children and make the online world they live in safer, Facebook is actively choosing to give offenders a place to hide in the shadows and risks making itself a one-stop grooming shop.”
Freedom of Information requests by the charity obtained figures from 32 of
the country’s 43 forces on the number of reports received of indecent images and child sexual offences between April 2018 and March 2019.
Of the more than 9,000 reports where the method of communication was recorded, 22 per cent were on Instagram, 19 per cent on Facebook and Messenger, and 3 per cent were on Whatsapp. The NSPCC said the reason the Whatsapp figure was low was most likely because it was already encrypted. A spokesman for Facebook said: “There is no place for grooming or child exploitation on our platforms. We use technology to proactively remove it and are developing ways to detect patterns of harmful behaviour in order to ban and report those responsible.
“We work closely with child protection authorities in the UK, and we’re consulting with experts on the best ways to implement safety measures before fully implementing end-to-end encryption.”
The figures come as Instagram announced it would ask new users to give their date of birth when signing up to prevent underage children joining.