Children as young as between three and six years old are becoming the latest victims in a growing trend of self-generated child sexual abuse, a report from an internet safety watchdog has said.
The Internet Watch Foundation said over a one month period it saw 51 examples of self-generated abuse imagery – where children are manipulated into recording their own abuse before it is shared online – including a child aged between three and six. More than half of the cases involved a sibling or friend of the child.
To continue reading this report in The Guardian, go to:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/26/children-between-three-and-six-victims-of-self-generated-child-sexual-abuse-internet-watch-foundation
Also see:
Cambridge-based Internet Watch Foundation warns of rise in remote abuse
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) finds, flags, and removes images and videos of child sexual abuse from the web.
Last year the Cambridge-based charity’s analysts uncovered illegal content on 252,000 web pages, the highest number since it began.
The charity’s annual report said 70% of victims were aged between 11 and 13.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61191906
Tackling online child abuse is ‘a kind of warfare’
An investigator who helps to get images of child abuse removed from the internet has warned of worrying trends and compared her job to fighting a war.
Last year, Cambridge-based charity the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) uncovered illegal content on 252,000 web pages.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61220206
Europe remains ‘global hub’ for hosting of online child sexual abuse material
Europe remains the world’s largest hoster of child sexual abuse imagery with 62% of known images and videos being traced to a European Union country* in 2021.
New figures released today (April 26) by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) show that Europe is the worst place in the world for the hosting of images and videos of child sexual abuse, with a vast amount of this material being hosted on servers in the Netherlands.
The IWF is Europe’s largest hotline dedicated to finding and removing images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet. It is the only European hotline with the legal powers to proactively search for this kind of content.
https://www.iwf.org.uk/news-media/news/europe-remains-global-hub-for-hosting-of-online-child-sexual-abuse-material/
Sexual abuse imagery of girls online at record high following pandemic lockdowns
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has found nearly all (97%) of the imagery of children suffering sexual abuse it dealt with last year included female victims, as lockdown has created a “new normal” for online grooming.
The IWF, the UK non-profit responsible for finding and removing child sexual abuse from the internet, says this is a marked increase on a decade ago when only 65% of the images and videos it took action to remove included girls.
https://www.iwf.org.uk/news-media/news/sexual-abuse-imagery-of-girls-online-at-record-high-following-pandemic-lockdowns/