Facebook secrecy ‘will make it easier to groom children’
FACEBOOK’S plans to encrypt messages on social media sites used by millions of children will create a onestop grooming shop for paedophiles, a charity warns today.
There were more than 4,000 cases of perverts using Facebook and its Instagram or WhatsApp services to send child abuse images or commit child sexual offences last year.
The data obtained by the NSPCC found that, of the incidents where the method was recorded, 22 per cent were on Instagram and 19 per cent on Facebook or Facebook Messenger. Only 3 per cent were recorded on WhatsApp, which is already encrypted, highlighting how much more difficult it becomes to detect crimes. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to boost privacy on all its sites may mean the tech firm will no longer be able to detect illegal content.
The figures were released following a Freedom of Information request by the
NSPCC to 32 police forces. The NSPCC’s Andy Burrows 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.” Rob Jones, of the National Crime Agency, said: “Facebook’s encryption proposals could place key information about what their users say and do out of the reach of investigations.” The NSPCC wants a ban on messages sent by or to a child on any Facebook app having endto-end encryption, as well as a
regulator and a duty of care for tech firms to keep children safe online.
A letter to Facebook from the UK, US and Australian governments warns the tech giant that its plans could lead to the loss of 70 per cent of its reporting and “hinder the fight against paedophiles and terrorists”.
Highlighting the case of a 15-yearold girl abused hundreds of times since she was 11, they said the abuser ended up with an 18-month jail sentence thanks to information from Facebook.
Facebook said: “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.”