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Spike in sexual grooming incidents on social media

Pastoral issues Safeguarding E-safety Government policy Pupil wellbeing
There has been a sharp rise in the number of recorded incidents of online sexual grooming – with a notable spike in predators using social media service Instagram.

Freedom of Information requests carried out by the NSPCC have revealed that police services in England and Wales recorded at least 4,373 offences of sexual communication with a child in the year to April 2019. This figure compared with 3,217 in the previous year.

The data showed that one in five victims were aged under 11 while the number of recorded instances involving the use of Instagram has more than doubled.

Over the last two years, the figures show that Facebook-owned apps (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Snapchat were used in more than 70 per cent of the incidents where police had recorded the communication method used.

The offence of sexual communication with a child has been in force since April 2017 and the government recently published its Online Harms White Paper (April 2019), which proposes, among other measures, a new statutory duty of care to make companies take responsibility for the safety of their users and to tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services.

The NSPCC’s Wild West Web campaign, meanwhile, is calling on new prime minister Boris Johnson to keep the government’s promise to force tech firms to exercise a duty of care to children on their platforms. The campaign has called for:

  • An independent regulator who can put in place mandatory child safety rules for social networks.
  • Safe accounts for children.
  • Detailed reporting on how social networks are keeping children safe.

NSPCC chief Peter Wanless said: "It's now clearer than ever that government has no time to lose in getting tough on these tech firms. Despite the huge amount of pressure that social networks have come under to put basic protections in place, children are being groomed and abused on their platforms every single day. These figures are yet more evidence that social networks simply won't act unless they are forced to by law. The government needs to stand firm and bring in regulation without delay."

Elsewhere, the number of adults contacting the NSPCC helpline because they are worried about a child has risen by 12 per cent in 2018/19.

In 2018/19, the NSPCC helpline received 72,812 calls and emails and referred almost half of these on to the police and social services to take further action. Among these contacts, the number of adults raising concerns about sexual abuse has risen by 11 per cent on the previous year.