Surge in online self-generated sexual abuse imagery of children a ‘social and digital emergency’

It says the rapid growth of this material featuring primary school-aged children is a “social and digital emergency”, which needs “focused and sustained efforts from the Government, the tech industry, law enforcement, education and third sectors to combat it”.

The IWF, Europe’s largest hotline dedicated to finding and removing images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet, says the latest figures are almost 8,000 higher than the same period last year. And when compared to the first half of 2020, when the UK entered its first Covid lockdown, there’s been a 360 per cent increase in this type of imagery of seven to ten-year-olds.

IWF chief executive Susie Hargreaves OBE, said: “There is no place for child sexual abuse on the internet and we cannot simply accept, year on year, that sexual imagery of children is allowed to be exchanged without constraint online.

“That’s not to say a huge amount of effort isn’t taking place to combat it – there is. At the IWF we identify this imagery, work with partners and tech companies globally to get it removed and provide services and datasets to tech companies to stop known imagery from being re-shared, and re-uploaded. But clearly more needs to be done and it’s not a problem which sits solely with one group or sector. When we work together, we can create impact and it’s needed now, more than ever.

“Child sexual abuse which is facilitated and captured by technology using an internet connection does not require the abuser to be physically present, and most often takes place when the child is in their bedroom – a supposedly ‘safe space’ in the family home. Therefore, it should be entirely preventable.

“We need to attack this criminality from several directions, including providing parents and carers with support to have positive discussions around technology use and sexual abuse, within the home.”

Ms Hargreaves added: “Children are not to blame. They are often being coerced, tricked or pressured by sexual abusers on the internet.

“Only when the education of parents, carers and children comes together with efforts by tech companies, the Government, police and third sector, can we hope to stem the tide of this criminal imagery.

“That is why the Online Safety Bill is so essential. Children everywhere need the UK Government to be role models in internet regulation and for Ofcom to acknowledge experts, like IWF, who are experienced in tackling this criminality online. The efforts in this area are being watched around the world.”

While the fastest increases were among the seven to ten age group, those aged 11 to 13 still represent the largest group for ‘self-generated’ imagery, with a 137 per cent increase in self-generated sexual abuse content specifically showing boys aged between seven and 13 years .

The IWF says ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse imagery is typically created using webcams or smartphones and then shared online via a growing number of platforms. In some cases, children are groomed, deceived or extorted into producing and sharing a sexual image or video of themselves.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection and abuse investigation, said: “The scale of the rise in this imagery should shock us all – and once again highlights the need to drive focus within society, and in our whole system response; across policing, third sector partners, HM Government, and the technology companies and platforms that host this appalling content and enable the exploitation of children.

“As a society, we need to stop online abuse happening in the first place. We need companies and platforms to fulfil their moral obligations – and under the Online safety bill their legal duty – to keep the online communities they create as safe as possible.

“We know that we are still seeing the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic – with lockdown restrictions increasing the vulnerability of children to online sexual abuse, with more children online and unsupervised, and vulnerable children having less interaction with professionals throughout the lockdown.”

The IWF said vast amounts of ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse material is being distributed through forums online and the criminal images displayed on these forums are being pulled from image host sites.

It found that the top five sites used to store and distribute self-generated child sexual abuse imagery of seven to ten-year-olds in the first half of 2022 were new. .

An IWF analyst, said: “Every day, I see children who have been asked to remove their clothes, stand naked or perform in front of a camera.

“They’re asked to show close ups of their genitals and sometimes use household objects to masturbate with. This happens in their bedrooms, mostly, where we see toys, laundry baskets, posters on walls, teddy bears and wardrobes full of clothes.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “The cruelty and inhumanity of people who abuse children is appalling.

“Since becoming Home Secretary, I have been unequivocal in my backing of law enforcement to go after those disgusting offenders who abuse children both in the UK and abroad. I have led every international effort to tackle this abuse and persuaded my international counterparts to do the same.

“Online child sexual abuse has a lifelong effect on victims. I have pursued policies and actions to ensure technology companies are held accountable for keeping our children safe.”

Mr Critchley said every day officers are arresting offenders who seek to commit “the most appalling acts of abuse by grooming, coercing and exploiting children online”.

But he said the responsibility for this goes far beyond policing and ultimately the “biggest difference could and should be made by the tech companies and platforms who have made these online communities and ultimately should be the ones who are held to account for keeping children using them safe’.

Mr Critchley added: “Our highly skilled and dedicated digital forensic investigators must face ever increasing technological capabilities, where offenders can and will seek to hide their offending in every way possible.

“We are continuing to enhance our digital forensic capability, we have increased resources in online child abuse teams and specialist officers who identify those who would groom and exploit children online.

“We must aspire to make sure the online world is a safe place for children. These figures from the IWF today shows there is much for us all to do to achieve this aspiration.”

Sarah Blight, deputy director for child sexual abuse at the National Crime Agency (NCA), said: “Offenders are using apps, online games and social media platforms to seek out children and coerce them into sharing sexual images of themselves. Not only has the internet made it easier for this initial contact to happen, it also facilitates the sharing of child sexual abuse material between offenders.

“What we then have is a permissive environment for them to develop their sexual interest in children and normalise their behaviour.

“It is essential that there is a whole system response by all of society, including the tech industry, to tackling online child sexual abuse and the proliferation of such images.”

She added: “Combatting this ever-increasing threat is a priority for the NCA and UK policing. Our coordination of the overall UK law enforcement response to online child sexual abuse saw 13,447 children protected or safeguarded and 10,181 offenders arrested or interviewed last year. This included more of those classified as high-harm than ever before.

“Education is also a key part of our response and we work with professionals, parents and carers, children and young people, to try and prevent online sexual abuse happening in the first place.

“Our aim is to reduce the vulnerability of children and young people so they don’t become victims. We also want to ensure the adults in their lives have the tools they need to offer support and talk to them about who they are communicating with, and what they are sharing online.”