Forty two incidents of sexual communications with a child occurred during the first three months of lockdown according to police figures.
Now, NSPCC Northern Ireland is urging the NI Executive to move forward with its online safety strategy.
New figures revealed by the charity show the recent extent of online grooming across the UK.
Freedom of Information responses from 38 police forces in England and Wales show that 1,224 offences of Sexual Communication with a Child were recorded in the first three months of lockdown.
Figures in Northern Ireland reveal 42 offences of sexual communications with a child during the same period. In 2019/20, there were 186 of sexual communications with a child.
The NSPCC fears the true scale of the problem is likely to be much higher.
In England and Wales, Instagram was the most used platform in child grooming crimes during lockdown. Research by the NSPCC suggests Instagram is increasingly being used by offenders, and was the platform used in 38% of cases where the platform was recorded, compared with 29% over the previous three years.
Facebook-owned apps (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp) were used in 51% of instances where the means of communication was recorded. Snapchat was used in 20% of instances for which data was available.
The figures have led to renewed calls for Boris Johnson to get tough on tech firms that fail to do enough to prevent offenders exploiting their sites and abusing children.
Here, the NSPCC is urging the Northern Ireland Executive to work closely with UK Government on its Online Harms Bill. The charity is calling for progress to be made in relation to the publication of an NI-focused online safety strategy.
Natalie Whelehan, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at NSPCC NI said the NSPCC Northern Ireland continues to call on the Northern Ireland Executive to take proactive and timely measures to respond to the increased risks children face online and to protect children in Northern Ireland.
“We also wish to see the Northern Ireland Executive working closely with the UK Government to ensure that the Online Harms Bill guarantees all children across the UK the most robust and comprehensive protections from online abuse and exploitation possible,” she added.
Offences have increased year-on-year and in the three years prior to lockdown there were 12,924 offences recorded by police in England and Wales, with experts saying poorly designed social media sites are putting children at risk.
The NSPCC warned the pandemic had created a perfect storm for online offenders and believe these figures could highlight the start of a surge in online grooming crimes.
With increasing coronavirus restrictions across the UK, the charity believes that the risk of online abuse will continue to spike, and many more offences may come to light when children report them at school.
One girl who contacted Childline during the pandemic said: “I am 12 and I don’t have social media but I wanted to get online and chat to people since my friends had done it and told me it would be fun. It started off fine with the occasional ‘hi’ and then men started sending d*** pics and saying really personal things.”
The new data comes as the Prime Minister makes vital decisions about online harms legislation that will create a Duty of Care on tech firms, with an announcement expected within weeks.
The NSPCC wants the upcoming Online Harms Bill to compel firms to consider child protections when they design their sites to prevent harm rather than react once the damage is done.
But it is warning tough deterrents will be needed to make some of the world’s biggest companies stand up and listen, and is concerned the Government may not go far enough.
NSPCC Chief Executive Peter Wanless added: “Families have long paid the price for big tech’s failure to protect children from abuse, but the Prime Minister has the chance to turn the tide and put responsibility on firms to clean up the mess they created.
“As the pandemic intensifies the threat children face online, bold and ambitious action is needed in the form of a world-leading Online Harms Bill.
“This means legislation that is tough on online crimes against children and regulation that holds tech companies and bosses financially and criminally responsible if they continue to turn a blind eye to entirely avoidable harm.”
Last month the NSPCC laid out six tests the Government’s regulation of social media will be judged on if it is to achieve bold and lasting protections for children online.
The charity said in order to make the UK a world-leader in child protection online, regulation must:
- Create an expansive, principles-based duty of care.
- Comprehensively tackle online sexual abuse.
- Put legal but harmful content on an equal footing with illegal material.
- Have robust transparency and investigatory powers.
- Hold industry to account with criminal and financial sanctions.
- Give civil society a legal voice for children with user advocacy arrangements.