Activists call for more online protection bill
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Tens of thousands of online data collection offences have been recorded while waiting for the online protection legislation to be updated, while campaigners have called for the online protection bill not to be delayed any further.
The long-awaited bill is expected to take effect in the fall, but has faced a long adventure to advance legislation, due to repeated adjustments and delays in proposed legislation.
In recent days, ministers have also been forced to protect the bill, with tech corporations fearing the law could undermine the use of encryption.
The NSPCC called on tech giants and MPs to back the bill, as the charity said UK police forces had recorded 34,000 sexual harassment offences in the past six years.
The news sheds light on the extent of child abuse on social media and the human cost of inherently harmful products.
The charity first called for stricter online protection in 2017.
Citing information from 42 UK police forces, the NSPCC said 6,350 offences similar to sexual communication with a child were recorded last year, an 82% increase from the offence in 2017/18.
The data shows that 73% of crimes occurred on websites connected to Snapchat or Meta, and that 5,500 crimes were committed against school-age children.
The figures come as parliament prepares to conclude debate on the bill at the end of the summer recess in a few weeks’ time.
NSPCC chief executive Sir Peter Wanless said: “Today highlights the scale of child abuse on social media and the human burden of fundamentally harmful products.
“The number of offences is a reminder of why the online protection bill is so important and why the innovative protections it will provide for young people are desperately needed.
“We are pleased that the government has listened to and strengthened the law so that corporations have to deal decisively but proportionately with how their sites contribute to child sexual abuse, adding personal messages. “
The agreement said the figures also showed that in cases where the sex of the victim was known, 83 percent of social media manipulation cases over the past six years involved girls.
It’s now up to tech companies, including those that stand out in today’s grim figures, to make sure their existing, long-term sites don’t expose young people to an unacceptable threat of abuse.
According to police data, around 150 apps and games were used to attack children.
The NSPCC argues that the bill is essential to protect children from abuse.
If passed, it would impose stricter obligations on tech corporations and bosses toward young users.
But the NSPCC must also have confidence that the law will affect new technologies, such as AI.
“It is now up to tech companies, in addition to those highlighted by today’s grim figures, to ensure that their existing, long-term sites do not expose young people to an unacceptable threat of abuse,” Sir Peter said.
Sophia, whose call was replaced to protect her identity, was exploited online through a boy posing as a teenager when she was 15.
After learning about an app and having good conversations for the first time about your interests, you found an update after four days.
She said: “He asked me for selfies and then asked me to strip naked and send him pictures.
“When he threatened me and started to get angry, I was petrified. He used the photographs with me.
“I wasn’t even allowed to use the bathroom without their permission. I’m afraid to tell anyone because of the photographs and their threats.
“He threatened to share my photos with friends and family I had found through my social media if I stopped responding. “
Sophia said she didn’t want to see anything after the experience and that it had affected her school life “greatly”.
It wasn’t until two years later that the National Crime Agency visited her to find out what had happened.
Susie Hargreaves, executive leader of the Internet Watch Foundation, said: “We urge corporations to have physically powerful security features at their disposal if they intend to introduce end-to-end encryption into their platforms.
“Without them, end-to-end encryption will serve as a smokescreen for abusers, helping them hide what they are doing and allowing them to continue harming young people and destroying young lives.
“Some of the world’s worst sexual predators can now take over any child with just a few clicks of the mouse. The internet has provided access to those who wish to care for and sexually abuse children, and we suffer the consequences every day. .
A government spokesman said: “That is precisely why we tabled our historic online safety bill, which will become law in a few months’ time and, as we have acknowledged, we have amended the bill on the road to covering children.
“We are working intensively with Ofcom to ensure that those measures are put in place as temporarily as possible so that young people are protected and, in the meantime, law enforcement has been working intensively with social media platforms to bring to justice the perpetrators of the heinous crimes that are being committed online. “
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