An internet watchdog in UK has found that over 90% of child sexual abuse imagery found online now is self-generated.
In a report, the Internet Watch Foundation said that more than 100,000 webpages had self-generated content featuring children under 10 in 2023, a 66% increase from the year before.
It said that some self-generated content involved children as young as three years old, with a fifth categorised as causing the most severe harm.
However, the watchdog's CEO Susie Hargreaves said that the rise in imaginery is not problematic as some of the increase could be accounted for by better detection.
“It does mean we’re detecting more, but I don’t think it’s ever a good thing if you’re finding loads more child sexual abuse,” Hargreaves told Guardian.
“Obviously the IWF would be most successful if we didn’t find any images of child sexual abuse. Our mission is the elimination of child sexual abuse – it’s not just to find as much as possible and take it down.”
The group argued that the report criticises Meta’s decision to implement end-to-end encryption for Messenger, a security feature that would blind the company to content being shared on its service.
It argues that the feature could make it difficult to detect the criminals who share abuse imagery online.
“With so many organisations looking to do the right thing in the light of new regulations in the UK, it is incomprehensible that Meta is deciding to look the other way and offer criminals a free pass to further share and spread abuse imagery in private and undetected,” she said.
Reacting to the report, UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said that the alarming rise in online child sexual abuse warrants stronger measures.
“This alarming report clearly shows that online child sexual abuse is on the rise, and the victims are only getting younger. And yet, despite warnings from across government, charities, law enforcement and our international partners, Meta have taken the extraordinary decision to turn their backs on these victims, and provide a ‘safe space’ for heinous predators.
“The decision to roll out end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger without the necessary safety features, will have a catastrophic impact on law enforcement’s ability to bring perpetrators to justice."