150,000 Scottish children affected by online sexual abuse in past year

More than 150,000 children in Scotland are likely to have been sexually abused online in the past year, according to new research by a child safety organisation.

Research from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, based at the University of Edinburgh, has found the number of children who experienced online sexual abuse in the past year is 70 times higher than the number of online sexual crimes against children recorded by the police.

Police Scotland received more than 2,000 reports last year, but this is only “the tip of the iceberg”, experts have said.

The new estimates indicate more than 400 children fell victim to online abuse per day.

Speaking to STV, Childlight’s director of data Professor Deborah Fry said: “We know from all the research we’ve done that many children will never tell anyone, and the abuse will remain hidden.”

The research used data from the 2022 census and suggests that around two in ten Scottish children aged 5-17 are estimated to have been victims of non-consensual taking, sharing or exposure to sexual images in the last year.

Paul Stanfield, chief executive of Childlight, said the lack of regulation on the internet is making it akin to the “Wild West”.

He added: “[Social media is] a key enabler and [offending has] grown exponentially as a result of it. Child sex offenders have been provided with a platform by which they can come together.”

The new research comes as First Minister John Swinney considers implementing a social media ban for those under the age of 16.

Swinney said he had discussed the policy with the UK Government, and that there are “strong arguments” for an Australia-like ban.

Last month, the Australian parliament approved the world's strictest laws on children’s use of social media, banning those under-16 from holding accounts.

Once it comes into effect, the ban will see social media platforms fined up to AU$50m – around £25m – for failing to follow the law.

Childlight also said that based on a sample of UK men, seven percent admitted to engaging in online sexual offending behaviours with children during their lifetime.

From this data, the organisation estimated that around 90,000 men in Scotland have either engaged in sexually explicit webcamming or have paid for online sexual interactions/content involving a child under the age of 18.

It also estimated that 76,000 men in Scotland have deliberately viewed child sexual abuse material online, and around 100,000 men will have flirted or engaged in sexual conversations with a child under-18 online.

Last month, speaking at the International Law Enforcement in a Digital Age summit by Holyrood Events, which ran alongside the INTERPOL General Assembly in Glasgow, Stanfield said child sexual abuse online is a crime which "acts like a disease, and that it mutates and adapts to our efforts to stop and prevent it".

Earlier this year, the institute revealed more than 300 million children worldwide had been targeted by cyber-enabled sexual crimes in 2023, with one case of abuse reported every second.

It is claimed the report was the first global estimate of the scale of the crisis.

Holyrood has contacted Police Scotland for comment.