The National Centre for Safe Internet has processed a record number of nearly 300,000 reports of online crimes against children
The National Network for Children will work on an analysis of the legal framework and regulatory gaps that hinder the prevention and detection of crimes under the Digital Children project
Exactly 293 312 alerts of online child abuse were processed by the National Centre for Safe Internet in the period January-September 2024. For all reports, 99% are about crimes against girls and 1% against boys. Most victims are children aged 10-14.
Of these nearly 300,000 signals, more than 45,000 were received from foreign partners – members of the international INHOPE network through the ICCAM system. Of these, 41 190 alerts have been sent by the Center for Safe Internet to the Cybercrime Directorate of the DGCOP as confirmed illegal content hosted in Bulgaria.
Over 248 500 alerts have been submitted by our Safer Internet Centre to the international INHOPE. Of these, 208,385 have now been confirmed as illegal content, with over 50% uploaded to Telegram’s free anonymous photo distribution service.
The figures were presented at a press conference organised by the National Centre for Safe Internet (NCBI – safenet.bg), the Parents Association, the Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association (BFPA) and the National Network for Children (NNC). These are also the organizations in the renewed consortium behind the Center’s activities, which in the coming months will launch the Digital Kids program with national prevention initiatives.
Because of the urgent need for effective measures against child abuse on the internet, the National Network for Children, as part of the consortium behind safenet.bg, will prepare in the coming months an analysis of the legal framework and regulatory gaps that hinder the prevention, detection and punishment of online crimes against children. Recommendations for procedural and legal amendments will be made. Responsible institutions will be involved in the discussion, including. This will involve the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the SACP, etc.
Under the “Digital Children” project, the NNC will work to advocate for changes in legislation and policies to ensure children are safer online and to effectively combat child sexual abuse online. “It is a shocking statistic that 1 out of 7 children in our country report being a victim of online bullying and stalking on social networks”, commented Georgi Elenkov, Director of Policies for Children at NMD. He also cited Eurostat data showing that only 58% of young people in the country aged between 16 and 24 have basic digital skills, far below the EU average of 80%.
Concrete actions of the state in the prevention and adequate response to online crimes against children will also be sought, including on the topic of sustainable state funding for the Center for Safe Internet – the only unit in the country with a long-established expertise and established local and international institutional partnerships to handle the increasing number of signals.
“The increased number of alerts processed is due to the enormous efforts of the safenet.bg team despite limited human and financial resources”, said Antoaneta Vassileva, coordinator of the Safer Internet Centre. “We manage to reach criminal content related to children on the web thanks to the mistakes that criminals make. In the coming months, we will continue to work hard to inform both parents and children about the risks online, because we see that despite the hard work parents do for their children, they lack information. We will continue to support parents and children through our 124 123 advice line.”
The press conference was also attended by the State Agency for Child Protection, the Information and Communication Technologies Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Cybercrime Directorate of the General Directorate for Combating Cybercrime.
Our colleagues from the DGCOP work with our specialised software that detects the content of Bulgarian IPs, said Senior Commissioner Vladimir Dimitrov, Director of the Cybercrime Directorate at the DGCOP. On a weekly basis, colleagues travel and arrest those consuming and distributing paedophile content. We uncover content that is being used for both personal use and trade in pornographic content. We have cases of both Bulgarian and foreign nationals in our country who are also aiming for a live encounter with child victims, and we detain them. We do not have data on how many of them have been convicted and often the cases we have started last for years. In this work, we are helped enormously by many institutions and NGOs, including safenet.bg, who take up the cause as their mission.
Prevention measures have started since this autumn. They will be implemented by the organisations in the consortium behind safenet.bg under the Digital Children project. The Center and the Parents Association will strengthen their training activities on digital-media literacy in the country, aimed at students, parents and teachers. The target in the coming months is over 120 trainings, information meetings and campaigns in the country and over 5000 children and parents supported with knowledge and skills to act in case of online violence or abuse.
With a focus on children and families from vulnerable groups the BFPA team will work. Vulnerable communities are among the most at risk, according to the organization, because they lack skills and knowledge of the online environment, have difficulty recognizing fake news, often share personal information without understanding the risks and possible negative consequences, and are susceptible to abuse, misinformation, cyberbullying and exploitation. Parents’ limited digital knowledge hinders their ability to help and guide their children online. BFPA will therefore also work with health mediators, social workers, teachers and psychologists, as well as with young people from vulnerable groups, who will then be able to advise their peers on safe online behaviour themselves. Through the peer-to-peer method, BFPA aims to reach at least 2000 children and teenagers from vulnerable communities in the country. The Association will also develop a methodology and a manual for online safety.
This summer, NCBI was successful in attracting EU funding under the Health and Digital Executive Agency’s (HaDEA) Digital Europe Programme. This will enable the Centre to continue to service the multiplying alerts to the Illegal Content Hotline and the 124 123 Child Online Safety Advisory Line, as well as its prevention training activities, but the question of a sustainable commitment from the Bulgarian state remains unresolved.
The National Centre also reports an increase in calls from parents, children and teenagers to the 124 123 advice line. Most of these (58%) were from parents and adults, and 42% were from teens and children. The most frequent queries to the Advice Line and its chat service are for advice on stolen accounts, online bullying and hacking other apps on the phone. The places on the web where the problem most often occurs are social networks – 72% and chat communication apps – 17%. Online criminals are becoming more inventive and are also increasingly tricking children through online gaming platforms – 10%.
Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor HaDEA can be held responsible for them.