NSPCC Warns Facebook at its Risk to Becoming a ‘One Stop Grooming Shop’
United Kindom’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has warned Facebook of its high chances to become a “one-stop grooming shop” if it carries on as planned with encryption across all its messaging services.
Facebook has put in considerations of end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct – on top of WhatsApp, which is already encrypted. However, there has been some concerned aired that such a move would make it hard for child abusers’ apprehension by the law.
4000 out of 9,259 incidences of child abuse image and online child sexual offences reported to the police in England and Wales clearly confirmed that the social media platforms involved in the act were either Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp.
The data – obtained by the charity from freedom of information requests to police forces between April 2018 and 2019 – shows that 22 per cent were reported on Instagram, followed by 19 per cent on Facebook or Facebook Messenger with only 3 per cent (299 instances) were from WhatsApp, which the NSPCC says highlights how difficult it becomes to detect crimes on an end-to-end encrypted platform.
The charity has firm belief that if at chance Facebook succeeds with the plans it is trying to put in motion, criminals will be able to carry out more serious child abuse on Facebook’s apps undetected.
Andy Burrows, NSPCC’s head of child safety online policy said, “Instead of working to protect children and make the online world they live in safer, Facebook is actively choosing to give offenders a place to hide in the shadows and risks making itself a one-stop grooming shop,”
“For far too long, Facebook’s mantra has been to move fast and break things but these figures provide a clear snapshot of the thousands of child sex crimes that could go undetected if they push ahead with their plans unchecked.
“If Facebook fails to guarantee encryption won’t be detrimental to children’s safety, the next Government must make clear they will face tough consequences from day one for breaching their duty of care.”
The NSPCC is calling for supporters to sign an open letter to Facebook, proposing measures such as no end-to-end encryption for messages going to or coming from children’s accounts as it fears the true scale could be much higher, as only 32 of the 43 police forces approached provided information.
The charity also wants until and unless Facebook has solutions to ensure child abuse can be detected and that children’s safety will not be compromised adults’ accounts not to be encrypted.
