Mubina Asaria, is Safeguarding Consultant at ed-tech charity LGfL-The National Grid for Learning.
Child sexual abuse online continues to spiral. Ofcom’s Online Safety Act requiring platforms to take rapid, responsive action or face prosecution, is much welcomed, but this is just one of the steps needed towards ensuring children are safe in their increasingly digital world. Schools hold the key to helping protect young people by increasing their awareness and building the critical-thinking skills and resilience they need to keep themselves safe online and on their devices, especially on social media, apps or gaming platforms. It’s also essential they know how and where to seek help when they need it.
Online child sexual abuse involves enticing or forcing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities online, or using technology to facilitate abuse offline. It has a lasting impact on the victim’s physical and emotional health and wellbeing, relationships and education. Worryingly, there is a continuing and increasing trend of child on child abuse, instigated by other children and young people, not just by adults.
Statistics released from the National Analysis of Police Recorded Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Crimes Report 2023, highlight the exceptionally concerning trends and increases in child sexual abuse online. According to the report, of the 115,489 CSAE offences reported by police in 2023:
- 35% had an online element
- 52% involved reports of children aged 10 to 17, offending against other children
- Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) offences account for 41% of offences committed by children…4 in 5 (80%) of these involve self-generated indecent imagery (SGII)
The latest annual report from the Internet Watch Foundation (2023) highlighted that ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse was significantly higher than content created when the abuser was physically present in the room. This was across all age groups, including children as young as 7-10, with children aged 11-13 continuing to appear most frequently in ‘self-generated’ imagery.
Often these children are completely unaware they are being recorded, and that an image or video of them is then shared by abusers. The latest data from 2024, highlights an exponential rise in sexual extortion (sometimes referred to as ‘sextortion’) scams, where a criminal will coerce or trick a child into sharing nude or sexual imagery, while pretending to be someone else, then threaten to share the imagery with the victim’s family and friends, or on the open web, if money is not sent. And whilst boys still make up the majority of victims, there has been a 2,600% increase in reports involving girls, with victims getting younger.
Technology can be used to generate and also facilitate abuse, through sharing or possessing sexual images of children. Images may be searched for or shared through the open web, private messaging or even the dark web, and once available can be in wide circulation, and are extremely difficult to eradicate. Furthermore, children are increasingly targeted through artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced grooming tactics, which now pose one of the biggest threats to online child safety, enabling criminals to generate and distribute sexually explicit content using AI profile images and chat bots.
We know that children and young people love livestreaming, sharing pictures and videos online – it’s a lot of fun, and a great way for them to be creative and to express themselves – but there are significant risks they need to be aware of. It provides easy access for perpetrators to engage with children through the instant, direct connection of ‘viewers’ to ‘hosts’. Offenders can hide amongst viewers, start chatting with the child, and once contact is established, grooming and abuse can take place in a relatively short time.
Gaming can also provide similar opportunities to offenders, with group chat initially focussed on the game, and then an invitation enticing the child to chat via private messaging. The young person is then tricked, coerced or manipulated into sexualized conversations and encouraged to take part in sexual activity or to send nude images or videos.
Once the abuse has taken place, some victims may not want to report it for fear of being judged or blamed, or are unsure about the consequences of coming forward. Often made to feel that it’s their fault, they are afraid to speak out about their experiences. Others may not even realise that they have been abused, or be unaware of who to go to or how to report it.
What schools can do
It’s hugely important for schools to create a positive culture of safeguarding by talking to children about online risks and raising awareness of the potential harms of sharing online. All concerns must be taken seriously, and staff must be confident, familiar and consistent in managing and responding to disclosures to avoid victim blaming. Be aware that some pupils receiving online safety education may have already experienced sexual abuse.
- Show empathy and understanding
- Explain what will happen next and if information needs to be passed on
- Ensure that pupils have ongoing support
- Ensure staff are alert to changes in pupils’ emotions and behaviour – both verbal and non-verbal
- Encourage pupils to come forward by providing worry boxes, online reporting options and safe spaces
- Use opportunities in the curriculum in PSHE/RSHE, to discuss abuse, healthy relationships and online safety
- Ensure trusted adults are explicit and emotionally available
- Ensure policies and safeguarding procedures are aligned and supportive
- Ensure pupils know there is a choice of adults and reporting services to turn to if something happens online, especially if it is outside school hours or during holidays.
Organisations to signpost include:
- Child Exploitation and Online Protection CEOP – young people can report concerns about child sexual abuse and exploitation to the National Crime agency
- Childline Report Remove – children can use this free tool to report nude or sexual images and videos of themselves they think might have been shared online, or speak to a trained Childline counsellor online or on the phone.
The vast majority of children now have a digital life, many from a very early age. The online world is full of creative experiences and exploration, but it can also be an extremely intimidating and threatening place. We need to recognise and understand the dangers of online child sexual abuse and how to respond to it through education and safeguarding, to ensure our children and young people have the tools and resilience necessary to protect themselves and stay safe.
LGfL deliver free training for schools via Online Sexual Abuse and Harms training, aimed at shaping best practice and building resilience through cross-curricular initiatives to support a whole school approach.
