Figures for England and Wales show there were 51,672 offences for child sexual exploitation and abuse online in 2024
Online child sexual abuse in England and Wales has surged by a quarter within a year, figures show, prompting police to call for social media platforms to do more to protect young people.
Becky Riggs, the acting chief constable of Staffordshire police, called for tech companies to use AI tools to automatically prevent indecent pictures from being uploaded and shared on their sites.
Riggs, who is the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection and abuse, said: “I know that these platforms, with the technology that’s out there, could prevent these harms from occurring in the first instance.”
She added that technology used by children should come with inbuilt protections, such as mobile phones that allow them to only access safe platforms and websites.
