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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rachel Hall

Online child sexual abuse surges by 26% in year as police say tech firms must act

A girl sitting on a bed in a dark room looking at her phone
The most commonly used platforms in reported child exploitation and abuse offences were Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram, according to police statistics. Photograph: Fiordaliso/Getty Images

Online child sexual abuse in England and Wales has surged by a quarter within a year, figures show, prompting police to call for social media platforms to do more to protect young people.

Becky Riggs, the acting chief constable of Staffordshire police, called for tech companies to use AI tools to automatically prevent indecent pictures from being uploaded and shared on their sites.

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