Childline: More robust online safety laws are vital to protect young people
The NSPCC has been a vocal supporter of more robust online safety laws, and data released in the last few days shows just how important they are.
In the North East and Cumbria, police forces recorded 370 sexual communication with a child in the last year. That’s an increase of 36% since the offence was introduced in 2017-18, with almost 2,900 recorded in that period in total.
Nationally, online grooming crimes have hit record levels too, with data from 43 police forces across the UK showing there were 7,263 offences recorded last year.
Most of the children targeted (80%) were girls and the youngest victim of online grooming was a four-year-old boy.
Sadly, we believe more of these crimes may have gone unreported due to abuse happening in private spaces where harms can be harder to detect. We also know that online child sexual abuse can have a long-term impact on a child. It can leave some battling anxiety, depression, and shame for years.
One 14-year-old told our Childline service: “I feel so insecure all the time, so, when this guy I’ve met online, who’s a few years older, started flirting with me, that made me feel so special.
“He seemed to care, but now he’s insisting I send him nudes, and I don’t know if he just gave me attention, so I’d send him nudes. I feel like I’ve been tricked but I’m afraid what he might do if I just block him. I can’t control how anxious this makes me feel.”
It’s deeply alarming that online grooming crimes have reached a record high across the UK, taking place on the very platforms children use every day.
The NSPCC has presented a series of recommendations to tech firms and the Government to help protect children and young people on private messaging platforms while respecting the privacy of all users.
Advice for parents and children about staying safer online is available on the Childline and NSPCC websites, but we also want children’s safety to be built into platform design from the start.