Protect children from online harm with compulsory code, minister told
Doctors and charities issue joint letter as figures reveal more than half of predators groom using Facebook
MINISTERS are being urged to take action on internet grooming amid warnings more than half of predators are targeting children via Facebook.
Children’s doctors and charities are calling for a mandatory code to govern social networks, with fines for those who fail to protect children. The Government is currently consulting on a draft internet safety strategy.
Last week Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, threatened to introduce legislation if social media firms did not improve efforts to protect children, giving them just over a week to explain what they intend to do.
But the NSPCC, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Royal College of Psychiatrists are concerned that the draft strategy only sets out plans for a voluntary code of conduct.
They are calling for a mandatory safety code backed by an independent regulator, which can fine firms that tolerate grooming, bullying or encourage self-harm. They have written to Matt Hancock, the Digital Secretary, urging him to take action, highlighting police figures showing 52per cent of predators in grooming crimes are using Facebook and the apps it owns – Whatsapp and Instagram – to target their victims.
The figures come from analysis of 956 cases in the nine months since new laws were introduced. In total, the records show 1,628 crimes of sexual communications with a child since anti-grooming laws came into force in April last year. One online groomer with 400 accounts approached 9,000 children, the National Crime Agency warned. Mr Hunt has given social media firms until tomorrow, when the consultation ends, to explain what they intend to do to protect children.
He has indicated further measures are likely after a review of the impact of the web on children’s mental health.
But the NSPCC and royal colleges say action must happen without delay, last night writing to Mr Hancock to strengthen the current plans.
In the joint letter, Prof Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, Prof Wendy Burn, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Prof Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, wrote: “Every day, our organisations support children who have experienced online harms such as bullying, grooming and sexual abuse.
“The internet can be a very risky place for children and young people and, after 10 years of failed self-regulation, our organisations fundamentally believe that the time has come to regulate the child safeguarding standards of social networking sites.
“If we fail to get this right now, we risk another generation of children growing up in a world where they are, all too easily, exposed to online harms. Not only do children want us to do more, they urgently need us to do more.”