The Internet Watch Foundation, a Safe Online grantee, has released their 2020 Annual Report, which shows the growing risk that children, particularly girls aged 11-13, are facing from sex predators.
This report includes the latest data on child sexual abuse; last year, the Internet Watch Foundation assessed nearly 300,000 reports of child sexual abuse through their reporting portal and the 43 global reporting portals across the world.
Online sexual predators are increasingly coercing young girls into filming their own sexual abuse, internet safety experts have warned.
The Internet Watch Foundation confirmed 68,000 cases of self-generated child sexual abuse imagery in 2020 – 44% of the total cases it acted on last year and a 77% rise from 2019.
In 80% of these cases, the victims were 11 to 13-year-old girls, according to new analysis in the IWF’s annual report.
And 17% (11,261 cases) were deemed to contain Category A material – the most severe level of abuse.
Siblings as young as three are being encouraged to take part together, with the IWF seeing eight images or videos on average per working day between September 28 and December 23.
Self-generated content can include material filmed using webcams, very often in the child’s own room, and then shared online.
Read the full report HERE
Picture:pixabay.com
