New data shows there were more than 1,200 online grooming crimes recorded against children in the three months from April to June across the UK, with the true scale of the problem likely to be much higher.
The figures reveal how Instagram is increasingly being exploited by offenders. It was used in 37% of cases where the platform was recorded, compared with 29% over the previous three years.
In the East of England, there were 114 online grooming offences against children from April to June, 36% of these offences took place on Instagram, 52% were on Facebook-owned apps including Instagram.
The findings have led to renewed calls for Boris Johnson to get tough on tech firms that fail to do enough to prevent offenders exploiting their sites and abusing children.
It’s understood the Online Harms White Paper consultation response has been signed off by DCMS and the Home Office and is sitting with Boris Johnson.
The Prime Minister is being urged to ensure companies and named managers can be held criminally responsible for failing to protect children from avoidable harm and abuse.
The charity said in order to make the UK a world-leader in child protection online, regulation must:
- Create an expansive, principles-based duty of care
- Comprehensively tackle online sexual abuse
- Put legal but harmful content on an equal footing with illegal material
- Have robust transparency and investigatory powers
- Hold industry to account with criminal and financial sanctions
- Give civil society a legal voice for children with user advocacy arrangement
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