Police arresting 1k paedophile suspects a month across UK

7 days ago

Child sexual abuse in the UK is increasing, with 1,000 suspects arrested monthly and a 50% rise in rescued children over five years.
Technology and online forums drive offending, normalizing abuse through algorithms and radicalization.
Mainstream social media platforms facilitate contact with children, pushing harmful content via algorithms.
Over 1,200 children are safeguarded monthly, with tenfold more leads in a decade.
Most abuse images are 'known' and could be removed by tech companies.
Offenders collaborate on the dark web but exploit the open web to target vulnerable children.
15% of 33,000 leads involve offenders in positions of trust or with child access.
Online forums and algorithms normalize and radicalize offenders, dismissing societal norms.
Recent cases include a nursery worker jailed for 18 years and another offender for 11 years.
Tech companies are urged to do more, as current measures are insufficient.
The Online Safety Act is seen as inadequate, with slow regulatory progress.
End-to-end encryption complicates monitoring, yet referrals continue to rise.
Victims suffer lifelong trauma, worsened by the sharing of abuse images.
A proposed social media ban for under-16s is not a complete solution.
Livestreamed abuse can be bought for as little as £20, with no typical offender profile.

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