Child online safety: Protecting children from online sexual exploitation and abuse
This guide is to help you and your business understand how to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse on your platform.
The guidance contained within these pages is distinct and separate from the forthcoming regulatory requirements that will be introduced through the Online Safety Bill. The draft Online Safety Bill confers powers on Ofcom to oversee and enforce the new regulatory regime, and requires Ofcom to prepare codes of practice to assist providers in complying with their duties of care.
Online platforms can be used by offenders to sexually abuse children or facilitate offline abuse. Online child sexual exploitation and abuse is when offenders use technology or the internet to view and share child sexual abuse material, groom children online, or live stream the sexual abuse of children. This includes abuse perpetrated by other children against any individual under the age of 18.
Child sexual abuse material is any representation of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities. This could involve penetrative sexual activity or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing or touching outside of clothing. It could also include erotic poses or pictures of a child’s body produced for sexual purposes. Images which appear to be self-generated by the child could be linked to abuse.
What you should do as a business
You should report all forms of child sexual exploitation or abuse as soon as possible to your local police force. This includes, but is not limited to:
- The sharing of child sexual exploitation and abuse content (for example images, videos and streaming). You should not send indecent images of children as part of the report to police.
- Sexual contact between adults and children (for example requests to perform sexual acts on camera or send sexual images, or arrangements to meet).
- Contact between adults relating to the sexual exploitation or abuse of children (for example advertising or acquiring children for sex, or offers to share images or livestream abuse).
In situations where there is a high or immediate risk to a child, you should dial 999.
You should seek to implement the 12 principles of the Home Office Interim Code of Practice on Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. The Interim Code sets out the government’s expectations of what companies should be doing to address child sexual exploitation and abuse online, providing clarity to companies before Ofcom is able to issue its own codes under the online safety regulatory framework.
It outlines practical ways in which you can protect children, including by preventing, removing and reporting child sexual abuse content on your service, combating grooming and the procurement of children for sexual abuse, and working collaboratively with stakeholders to develop a more informed approach to tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Why this is important
- Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility. It is essential that every business providing services that children might use, takes steps to protect them from child sexual abuse.
- The NCA believes that there are likely to be 550,000 – 850,000 UK individuals posing varying degrees of sexual risk to children (with a central estimate of 700,000).
- The NSPCC estimates that one in twenty children in the UK have been sexually abused.
- In 2020, the Internet Watch Foundation assessed 153,383 reports, which they confirmed contained child sexual abuse material. This is a 16% increase from 2019.
- The proposed Online Safety Bill gives Ofcom the power to issue fines up to £18 million or 10% of annual global turnover if you fail to comply with the requirements of forthcoming online safety legislation, which will include protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse.
Useful links
- The Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse provide an international framework for companies to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse, and are closely aligned to the Home Office’s interim code. All companies are encouraged to endorse and implement these principles.
- The SafetyTech Innovation Network lists technology or service providers that help to ensure safer experiences for users online. Some of these specialise in technologies that help your organisation to detect child sexual exploitation and abuse content.
- The Internet Watch Foundation works with industry, law enforcement and government to ensure the removal of child sexual abuse images and content.
- The WeProtect Global Alliance brings together governments, the private sector, civil society and international organisations to build a digital world that is designed and regulated to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Thorn provides guidance and technology for online platforms to combat the dissemination of child sexual abuse material. The Thorn Best Practices Guide provides specialist advice for small and medium sized enterprises with limited resources on how to prevent abusive content and behaviour. In addition, they have a variety of technologies that can be deployed to identify, remove, and report child abuse material.
- The Technology Coalition is an industry association that supports companies of all sizes, including those just establishing their child safety protocols and processes. They seek to prevent and eradicate online child sexual exploitation and abuse through sharing best practices, mentorship, and coordinated efforts to improve the detection and reporting of sexual abuse imagery and other exploitative practices.
Part of A business guide for protecting children on your online platform