Experts call for prioritizing children’s online safety in elections to combat the ‘hidden pandemic’ of sexual abuse

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Experts are warning of a “hidden pandemic” of online sexual abuse and urging politicians to prioritize children’s internet safety in their election campaigns – and to treat the problem as a public health emergency comparable to Covid.

A new report this week has revealed grim findings about the prevalence of online sexual abuse both globally and in the UK.

Around one in eight children in the world were victims of being captured, shared and exposed to sexually charged images and videos without their consent last year. That equates to more than 300 million children, according to new research from researchers at the University of Edinburgh, the first global estimate of the scale of the crisis.

An estimated equal number of children were victims of sexting and unwanted requests for sexual activity by adults or other young people, according to the study, which is based on data from around 36 million reports to five major regulatory and police organizations around the world.

In the UK, researchers conducted the first survey of its kind among more than 1,500 men and concluded that up to 1.84 million men in the UK may have committed some form of sexual abuse of minors online.

In a further breakdown of the results, which was exclusively provided with The IndependentThe extrapolated results of the survey also suggested that:

Meanwhile, new statistics show that the watchdog National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children received 178,648 reports of files containing sexual images of children being uploaded or hosted in the UK last year, equating to almost 500 reports a day.

In an appeal to The IndependentResearchers from the university’s global child safety institute Childlight called on political parties to prioritise the issue in their campaigns for the upcoming general election – a message echoed by other leading child safety organisations including the NSPCC and the Children’s Society.

“The numbers The Independent The numbers Childlight highlights are staggering – and behind every number is a child. There is evidence that child sexual abuse leads to poorer mental and physical health, including chronic illness and premature death,” says Childlight’s CEO Paul Stanfield, a former director of Interpol.

“That is why we want politicians in this election and around the world to treat this pandemic as a public health emergency comparable to Covid.

“We wouldn’t endorse any political party, and there are good ideas across the political spectrum, but when we hear talk of national service, all politicians could do our nation a service by promising to put online child safety at the heart of this election. They must help prevent the World Wide Web from becoming like the Wild West.”

Susie Hargreaves, executive director of the Internet Watch Foundation, praised Childlight’s research for highlighting “the devastating scale of the problem.” The Independent: “The protection of children and the fight against sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, especially online, must be a priority for the new government.

“We are seeing younger and younger children becoming victims of online grooming and sexual abuse, while at the same time new threats such as AI-generated images of child sexual abuse and sextortion are becoming increasingly widespread.”

New laws are needed to combat abuse caused by AI and ensure effective implementation of age verification on online platforms, Ms Hargreaves said, calling on the next government to invest more in preventing abuse and implement all recommendations of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.

While the Tories’ long-awaited Online Safety Bill was finally passed last year, putting the onus on tech companies to protect children from harmful material, it is expected to take at least another year for the bill to be enforced through regulator Ofcom’s new code of practice – which still needs approval.

Despite attempts to water down the law since then, a Tory spokesman insisted that the bill’s passage fulfilled the party’s 2019 election promise to “make Britain the safest place in the world to be online,” adding: “For the first time, social media platforms will be held accountable for protecting their users, especially children.”

“This is the most effective child protection law passed in a generation. At the same time, it gives adults the opportunity to take control of their online lives.”

But the Labour Party has criticised the delays in the bill and promised earlier this month that if elected it would “work with the grieving families and swiftly issue a statement of Ofcom’s strategic priorities that takes account of the new risks”.

Rani Govender, NSPCC’s chief child safety officer, warned of the need for urgent action, saying: “It is vital that children’s experiences and safety are factored into future technology policy and strategy, while ensuring they are not excluded from the benefits of the online world.”

“Party leaders should set out how they plan to ensure Ofcom holds companies to account through the ambitious implementation of the Online Safety Act, and make it clear to tech bosses that children’s safety will be the price of bringing products to market in the UK.”

A Children’s Society spokesperson said it was “vital” that the government and technology companies continue to work to respond to the wider and evolving threats facing young people. He said: “All political parties should urgently commit to sound policies that protect our children in the digital world and ensure their online safety.”

But Stanfield warned that recent calls by MPs for the next government to ban smartphones or social media for under-16s risked criminalising children and would “absolve social media companies of responsibility when they should be doing more to prevent abusers from targeting young people with impunity”.