Internet giants have the technology to delete child abuse images automatically but are failing to do so, a top investigator said last night.
Senior officers are frustrated that multi-million-pound internet companies are not proactively screening out appalling images.
They want all firms to use technology similar to that which detects copyright music and films and blocks the material at source. This would free up investigators to focus on the most serious offenders, who stalk the internet looking for vulnerable children to blackmail, threaten and abuse.
Some companies, such as Facebook and Instagram, do use software to detect inappropriate images, but investigators want to see every company join them.
Senior officers at the National Crime Agency want all firms to use technology similar to that which detects copyright music and films and blocks child abuse material at source (file photo)
Will Kerr, a director of the National Crime Agency (NCA), accused web giants of refusing to take responsibility and fuelling child abuse.
The former Northern Ireland counter-terrorism boss said: ‘We know there are thousands of children being unnecessarily exploited and abused in the UK where actually industry has the technological ability now to stop that at source.
‘We want to have the capability to go after higher-level offenders. There is the technological means now to pre-screen images. Why do we have, when we can technologically stop it, indecent images of children on any of these platforms at all?’
Experts warn the UK is reaching a ‘tipping point’ as they face a tsunami of people accessing child abuse images.
They are arresting at least 400 suspects and protecting 500 children every month, generating huge strain on the criminal justice system. On top of this, the NCA fields up to 80,000 referrals a year from overseas agencies reporting suspected British paedophiles online.
Officials insist there is no ‘stereotypical paedophile’ and an increasing proportion of those caught are young men.
They suspect a new generation is becoming desensitised to shocking images as a result of the easy availability of hard-core pornography online.
In addition, they believe many teenagers have become ‘immune’ to images of sex acts as a result of ‘sexting’, when young people swap intimate images.
One of the fastest-growing areas is the live-streaming of abuse via encrypted platforms, where Britons can pay for children to be abused ‘to order’, often in South East Asian countries.
Keith Niven, of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command, said the average age of those sending pictures was falling. He said the most common age for children to send a naked picture of themselves or to become a victim of a picture being sent was 14, adding: ‘We are aware that the children are getting younger and younger.
‘Very young children have access to phones and devices. So equally they can be vulnerable to predators who are looking to coerce young children.’
Facebook said: ‘We have zero tolerance for child exploitative content on Facebook and are extremely aggressive in preventing and removing it.’
A Google spokesperson said: ‘Google has a zero tolerance approach to child sex abuse material and will not tolerate it anywhere on our systems.
‘We use technology to identify and remove this kind of content from our platforms and prevent it appearing in Search.
‘We report any material we find to the relevant authorities, and we collaborate with industry to share information to help tackle the issue.’
This would free up investigators to focus on the most serious offenders, who stalk the internet looking for vulnerable children to blackmail, threaten and abuse (file photo)