Fifteen occasions extra baby sexual abuse materials discovered on-line than 10 years in the past | Youngster safety

Figures show that experts can find fifteen times as much material on child sexual abuse on the Internet as there was a decade ago.

The online security organization Internet Watch Foundation (IMF) said its analysts were faced with a “tidal wave” of abuse material. It called on the government to ensure that the Online Safety Act, which aims to improve internet safety, is used to protect children.

The IMF figures show that this year it cracked down on a record 200,000+ websites containing material related to child sexual abuse. That’s 15 times more than in 2011, when there were just over 13,000 reports of abusive content.

Susie Hargreaves, the charity’s executive director, said that although big improvements in detection technology and the hiring of more analysts had helped uncover more criminal material, it remained a growing problem.

“I took up my position as General Manager of the IMF in 2011 and since then we have seen a really huge increase in the amount of this harmful and harmful material freely available on the open internet. We have more than tripled the number of analysts at the IMF during that time, ”she said.

“In 2014 we were given the opportunity to proactively search for this material, which was groundbreaking for us and which makes us unique among non-law enforcement agencies. But the sad fact is that the problem has overtaken efforts around the world. We continue to build world-class technology to help us and companies around the world fight this crime, but it is the work of our human analysts that really sets the IMF apart. “

She added that the numbers highlighted why it was so important for the government to put child protection online at the heart of the proposed Online Safety Act, its proposed regulation for the technology sector.

“Our analysts hold back a deluge of criminal material every day, prevent it from spreading further on the internet, and prevent criminals from sharing the horrific abuse of innocent children. This is why the role we play in online safety regulation is so important. We must take real action now to stop this surge.

“The new Online Safety Act is a unique opportunity to ensure that child safety is paramount and that our digital future is based on a core of child protection measures.”

Minister in charge of the new law regulating online behavior, Nadine Dorries, last week called on social media heads to “remove your harmful algorithms” or to face swift prosecution.

Dorries said she worked with officials to toughen the proposed online safety law to target technology companies who she believed “are able to correct what they are doing wrong”. The plans include accelerating controversial actions that could lead technical executives to jail.

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