Almost 20,000 reports of self-generated child sexual abuse content were seen by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in the first six months of this year, compared to just 12,000 for the same period this year. The worrying global trend has grown rapidly since the initial coronavirus lockdown, with cases involving this age group increasing by 360% since the first half of 2020. IWF chief executive Susie Hargreaves said self-inflicted abuse should be “totally preventable”, which should include educating parents, carers and children about the use of technology and sexual abuse in the home. “Child sexual abuse, which is facilitated and recorded by technology using an Internet connection, does not require the abuser to be physically present and most often takes place when the child is in their bedroom – a supposed ‘safe space’ in the home of the family. . So it should be completely preventable,” he said. “Only when the education of parents, carers and children is combined with the efforts of technology companies, government, the police and the third sector can we hope to stem the tide of this criminal image.” IWF operates a UK-based hotline and also reports cases of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) around the world. While the fastest increase in self-generated images was among the seven to 10-year-old age group, the 11 to 13 age group created the largest number of such images reported by the IWF, with 56,000 images tagged in the first six months of year. There was also a 137% increase in self-created images of boys aged between seven and 13. Self-generated child sexual abuse images are typically created using webcams or smartphones and then shared online on a growing number of platforms. The IWF says children are being groomed, tricked or blackmailed into creating an image or video of themselves. He said most examples appear in bedrooms, where toys, laundry baskets and wardrobes can be seen in the background. In one case, a child can be seen apparently reading instructions on a screen, while in another the edge of a blanket is visible, suggesting the victim is ready to quickly shut down or hide what he was asked to do. Tamsin McNally, director of the IWF hotline, said a number of factors could be behind the increase in self-generated images of abuse since 2020. “It could be due to the lockdown and children being home more and to access the internet, or it could be that we are uncovering more cases because our techniques for finding this kind of content have improved,” he said. McNally added that the setting of the images and videos was shocking. He said: “This is not some back alley or dark basement. They’re in family homes… sometimes you can hear their parents outside the rooms.” The IWF also warned in its annual report this year that children between the ages of three and six are becoming victims of self-inflicted sexual abuse. Images are distributed through online forums after being downloaded from image hosting sites. He said the five biggest websites used to store images of children aged seven to 10 had not been used for this purpose before. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Hargreaves added that the UK’s internet safety bill was needed to set a regulatory example around the world. The bill, whose progress in parliament has been delayed until the fall, requires tech companies to limit the spread of illegal content such as images of child sexual abuse. Companies should report any child abuse material on their platforms to the National Crime Agency unless they have consulted with another agency – such as the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The communications regulator, Ofcom, will have the power to fine the companies either £18m or 10% of global turnover and, in extreme cases, block websites or apps.
The NSPCC offers support for children on 0800 1111 and adults worried about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused as a Child (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331.
