Published: Wed 22 Jan 2025
The Prime Minister must intervene on online safety rules as new data reveals 2024 was the worst year on record for child sexual abuse on the internet, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) warns.
The IWF has today (January 22) written to Sir Keir Starmer to warn that, without his intervention, the new Online Safety Act will be a missed opportunity to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse imagery online.
This comes as the IWF, which is the UK’s front line against online child sexual abuse, publishes new data revealing 2024 as the worst year on record for online child sexual abuse imagery.
The IWF says Sir Keir, who first authorised the charity to start proactively hunting down child sexual abuse imagery when he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service in 2014, is in a unique position to intervene again and make sure the Online Safety Act does not become a missed opportunity to revolutionise online safety.
Writing to Sir Keir, IWF Chair Catherine Brown acknowledged the huge potential of the Online Safety Act, but urged stronger additional legislation, as well as a more robust interpretation of the rules by regulator Ofcom.
She said: “We are deeply concerned that the Codes allow services to remove illegal content only when it is ‘technically feasible’, which will incentivise platforms to avoid finding ways to remove illegal content in order to evade compliance. This undermines the Act’s effectiveness in combatting online child sexual abuse. We urge you to instruct Ofcom to urgently review and mitigate this blatant get-out clause.
“The publication of the Codes also highlighted the weaknesses within the legislation itself. For example, the Act does not mandate companies to moderate content uploaded in private communications. As a result, illegal content that is blocked elsewhere on the internet can still be freely shared in private online spaces.”
Ms Brown said Ofcom’s Codes could create a situation where tech companies will be in compliance with their duties if they follow the measures in the Codes, rather than needing to effectively and proactively address the harms identified in their risk assessments.
She added: “We call on your Government to remove the safe harbour inadvertently offered to platforms – including those that facilitate the sharing of child sexual abuse material – by the Act. Additional legislation should be introduced to ensure there are no safe havens for criminals in private communications.”
The letter coincides with new data from the IWF which shows that in 2024, the IWF acted to remove images or videos of children suffering sexual abuse, or links to that content, on 291,270 webpages.
Each page can contain at least one, if not hundreds or thousands, of images and videos.
This is the most child sexual abuse webpages the IWF has ever discovered in its 29-year history and is a five per cent increase on the 275,650 webpages identified in 2023.
In 2014, the IWF began to proactively seek out and remove child sexual abuse imagery from the internet having been granted new powers by Sir Keir in his role as Director of Public Prosecutions.
Before then, the IWF could only legally respond to reports made by the public, tech companies or the police.
The powers granted by Sir Keir had a dramatic effect on the amount of child sexual abuse material the IWF was able to uncover, with 2024’s figures showing an 830 per cent increase on the 31,260 webpages found when proactive detection began.
Derek Ray-Hill, Interim Chief Executive of the IWF, said the Prime Minister has shown a strong commitment to children’s online safety, and urged him to go further now in light of the escalating threat.
He said: “Ten years ago Keir Starmer, as Director of Public Prosecutions, took a stand, giving the IWF unprecedented powers to proactively hunt down child sexual abuse imagery online. Now, we need him to act decisively again. The new regulations we’ve all worked so hard to bring in threaten to leave gaping loopholes for criminals to exploit.
“The Online Safety Act can be revolutionary in protecting our children if the political and regulatory will is there. Or it can be a monument to ineffectiveness in the face of a solvable problem. The solutions are here, now. They aren’t pie-in-the-sky solutions for the future. They exist, and they are trusted. Big tech just needs to be instructed to switch them on.
“Sir Keir has it in his gift to take the wheel and make a real difference that children in the UK, and all around the world, will benefit from. It’s their safety that is at stake.”
Lawrence Jordan, Deputy CEO at the Marie Collins Foundation, said: “Marie Collins Foundation works closely with victims, survivors and their families, and we know firsthand the devastating and lifelong impact that images of child sexual abuse have on those who have experienced this crime.
“Pictures and videos are often used to shame, humiliate and revictimise survivors long after the physical abuse ends. Individuals often feel silenced and powerless, so it is essential when considering regulatory measures that those with lived experience are regularly consulted.
“The Online Safety Act, if robust in its measures, will provide victims and survivors with a sense of hope to know people are fighting on their behalf. Victims and survivors look at both the Government and the regulator to take action and stand side by side to ensure the UK becomes the safest place to be a child online.”
Sarah Smith, Innovation Programme Lead at child protection charity Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said: "These figures represent a tragedy for the thousands of children impacted by sexual abuse. End-to-end encryption is a challenge for everyone working to make the internet safer, but encryption and other privacy issues don't give tech companies an excuse to hide from their responsibility to protect children.
"Innovative solutions do exist that protect children and don't compromise the privacy of users. Tech companies must show their determination to proactively protect children from abuse on their watch and make their platforms safe."
*Reports of suspected and confirmed child sexual abuse imagery dealt with by the Internet Watch Foundation from 2014 to 2024.
New online safety guidelines need to be more ambitious if the “hopes of a safer internet” are to be realised, the IWF warns.
