London: New police figures show that Snapchat is the most frequently used social media platform in reported child exploitation and abuse offences in the UK. In 2024, a total of 122,768 child sexual exploitation offences were recorded, up 7,279 cases (6 percent) from 2023.
Online child sexual exploitation and abuse increased by 26 percent, accounting for 51,672 crimes, or 42 percent of the total. Snapchat was linked to 11,912 offences, while WhatsApp and Instagram recorded 1,870 and 1,705 offences, respectively.
Acting Chief Constable Becky Riggs, the national lead for child protection and abuse investigations, stressed that social media platforms must do more to report crimes and prevent the sharing of underage images. Riggs also highlighted that parents should be able to provide phones to their children, confident that devices and social platforms are safe.
While the UK government has no immediate plans to ban children from social media, ministers are monitoring Australia’s recent nationwide ban on under-16s, which came into effect this week. Riggs described the ideal scenario as a ‘hard stop’ preventing abuse before it occurs.
The police figures also shed light on demographics. Of the 122,768 offences, self-defined ethnicity was recorded for 34 percent of victims and 34 percent of perpetrators. Among known perpetrators, the majority were white British, making up 86.9 percent of offenders, compared to 74.4 percent of the population per the 2021 census.
A separate report on group-based child abuse, including grooming gangs, found Pakistani perpetrators represented 3.94 percent of offenders, compared with 2.7 percent of the population, while white British offenders accounted for 78.03 percent.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has called for offenders’ ethnicities to be recorded in all cases, though police leaders have said this will not always be possible due to incomplete data. A Snapchat spokesperson noted that the company collaborates with police, safety experts, and NGOs to prevent, identify, and remove abusive content, reporting offenders where appropriate.
To protect teens, Snapchat blocks under-18 users from appearing in search results unless they share multiple mutual contacts and deploys in-app warnings to prevent unwanted contact. The platform stated that it will continue strengthening safety tools to make Snapchat inhospitable to those seeking to harm children.
These statistics and responses highlight ongoing concerns about online child exploitation, the responsibilities of social media platforms, and the challenge of safeguarding children while leveraging technology responsibly.
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