Online child sexual abuse could soar as schools close during coronavirus pandemic, warns internet watchdog
- The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is concerned children will be at greater risk
- Pupils will spend more time online from Monday as schools close across the UK
- Charity says its hotline will continue to operate during coronavirus pandemic
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Public reports of online child sex abuse could spike as schools across the UK close during the coronavirus pandemic, experts have warned.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is concerned children might be at greater risk of being groomed and coerced into making explicit content, given that many will undoubtedly spend more time online from Monday.
Susie Hargreaves, the charity’s chief executive, said increasingly videos and photos are taken by the children themselves, who have been targeted by ‘ruthless predators’ under false identities.
Public reports of online child sex abuse could spike as schools across the UK close during the coronavirus pandemic, experts have warned (file photo)
She said: ‘Heartbreakingly, we see more and more of this material being filmed by children themselves on devices, sometimes live streamed from their own bedrooms in the family home.
‘My fear is that, with more young children being sent home from school, more of them will be spending a lot longer online, possibly exposing them to some of these criminals.’
In 2019, the charity – which is responsible for finding and removing videos and images of children suffering sexual abuse from the internet – looked into a record of 260,400 reports, up from the 229,328 it investigated the year before.
Of those in 2019, 132,700 were confirmed to be of images or videos of children being sexually abused, an increase on the 105,047 in 2018.
The charity says its hotline will continue to operate while other staff members are forced to work from home to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
‘We are bracing ourselves for a spike in reports,’ Ms Hargreaves said.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is concerned children might be at greater risk of being groomed and coerced into making explicit content, as they spend more time online (file photo)
‘The pandemic is forcing more and more people to stay indoors, and a lot of people are going to be spending much more time on the internet and at home on electronic devices.
‘More people alone in their homes, and more people spending longer online sadly means we are likely to see more people stumbling across criminal material involving child sexual abuse on the internet.
‘We are also expecting criminals to be more active on the internet during the coming months.
‘This could mean we’ll see an unprecedented number of public reports to our hotline as more people spot things that are not right and report it to us.’
The charity urges parents to trust their children but have a frank conversation with them about the dangers.