Childline: New legislation must make mobile phones and tablets safer for young users
While the internet, social media and a variety of apps allow us to stay more connected with friends and family than ever before, it also leaves children open to risks.
Our counsellors hear from young people every day about online issues, and new data released by the service has revealed the top five platforms mentioned during Childline counselling sessions where online sexual abuse was also discussed.
Between April 2025 and March 2026, Snapchat was mentioned in 324 counselling sessions where a young person also spoke about their experience of online sexual abuse – a 19% increase on the previous year.
TikTok (234 mentions), Instagram (197 mentions), Discord (92 mentions) and WhatsApp (39 mentions) were the other key platforms mentioned in counselling sessions where online sexual abuse was the main concern.
Online grooming, sexual extortion and child sexual abuse can be devastating for young people and often begin with sharing a single semi-nude or nude image.
But the creation, sharing and viewing of these images can easily be prevented by tech firms themselves. In early summer, the Government announced that companies like Apple and Google had three months to adopt nudity blocking technology on all smartphones and tablets used by children in the UK.
That deadline passed last week with little obvious action from Apple and Google. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy MP told MPs that despite "significant commitments" from both companies, current proposals "do not meet the scale of this crisis".
We therefore strongly welcome Government keeping their promise and following through with the promise of legislation to prevent children from taking, sharing or receiving nude images.
Children and families cannot face more delays, so Government must act swiftly and ensure these measures are enshrined in law at the earliest opportunity.
Tech firms have passed the buck to families for so long, putting countless children at risk This has to stop. Ideally Apple and Google would have delivered device level protections voluntarily ahead of the three-month deadline.
Now it seems new legislation will be required to ensure mobile phones and tablets are made safe for young users. This is not the way most people would have wanted it to happen, but if that is what it takes to protect our children from online sexual abuse, then so be it.