More than 50% of child sexual abuse incidents occur through Facebook-owned apps, according to the NSPCC. The charity has called for more to be done to tackle harassment and abuse in private messages.
Facebook has revealed plans to make messaging across its apps (Instagram, Facebook Messenger etc.) end-to-end encrypted, similar to WhatsApp, to boost user privacy. However, the NSPCC has argued that this evidence, gathered through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to police authorities, shows that the company's encryption plans will leave children at greater risk.
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According to data compiled by the charity, 9,477 incidents of sexual or indecent offences against children were recorded by police between October 2019 and September 2020, with 52% taking place on Facebook apps. The data also showed that Instagram was used in more than a third of the cases, more than any other platform on the social media giant. The data was collected from 35 police forces in England, Wales and the Channel Islands.
The NSPCC also pointed out that if Facebook goes ahead with its encryption plans, many of these offences may go undetected in the future unless new safeguards are implemented on the platform.
The charity is also calling on the UK government to give Ofcom the power to take “timely and meaningful action” against companies whose dangerous design choices put children at risk. The NSPCC has repeatedly called for encryption plans to only be put in place if and when platforms can demonstrate that doing so will not put children’s safety at risk.
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According to new data, WhatsApp accounts for 1 in 10 incidents recorded by police where Facebook apps are involved in online child sexual abuse. While end-to-end encryption brings some benefits, including improved privacy, it will hinder the ability of platforms and law enforcement agencies to detect and crack down on child abuse.
Last month, a senior official at the UK’s National Cybercrime Service (NCA) said that Facebook’s encryption plan “poses an existential threat to child protection.” End-to-end encryption is the practice of securing communications from everyone except the participants, including the platforms hosting a conversation.
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In response to the investigation, a Facebook spokesperson said: “Child exploitation has no place on our platforms, and we will continue to lead the industry in developing new ways to prevent, detect, and respond to abuse. For example, a few days ago we announced new safety features on Instagram, including preventing adults from sending messages to children under 18 who don’t follow them. End-to-end encryption is already a leading security technology used across many services to keep people, including children, safe from having their personal information compromised and stolen. Fully rolling it out to messaging services is a long-term project, and we’re building strong security measures into our plans.”
