Prioritise children’s online safety at election to tackle ‘hidden pandemic’ of sexual abuse, experts urge

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Experts warning of a “hidden pandemic” of online sexual abuse have urged politicians to prioritise children’s internet safety in their general election campaigns – and to treat the issue as a public health emergency comparable to Covid. In a further breakdown of the findings, shared exclusively with The Independent, the extrapolated results of the survey also suggests that: 3.7 per cent of men in the UK may have flirted or had sexual conversations with children 2.9 per cent of men in the UK may have deliberately viewed sexual images of children 2 per cent of men may have paid for online sexual interactions, images or videos of under-18s 1.4 per cent of men may have taken part in sexually explicit webcamming with children Meanwhile, new statistics showed the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children watchdog was alerted to 178,648 cases of files containing sexual images of children being uploaded or hosted in the UK last year – equivalent to nearly 500 alerts every day. They need to help stop the world wide web from being like the Wild West.” Hailing Childlight’s research for highlighting “the devastating scale of the problem”, the Internet Watch Foundation’s chief executive Susie Hargreaves told The Independent: “Protecting children and tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation, particularly online, must be a priority for an incoming government. “Party leaders should set out how they will 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.” Calling it “essential” that the government and tech companies keep working to respond to wider and evolving threats to young people, a Children’s Society spokesperson said: “All political parties should urgently commit to robust policies that protect our children in the digital world and keep them safe online.” But Mr Stanfield warned that MPs’ recent calls for the next government to ban smartphones or social media for under-16s risk criminalising children, and would “let social media companies off the hook when they should be doing more to prevent abusers having free rein to target young people with impunity”.