Facebook becoming ‘safe haven for paedophiles’, Scottish MP warns

Scottish Labour MP Gregor Poynton has pressed the UK Government to act against end-to-end encryption on social media, warning it’s potentially allowing for the encrypted sharing of child abuse material.

During Home Office Questions (HOQ), Poynton argued end-to-end encryption meant Facebook was “turning a blind eye” while the site “becomes a safe haven for paedophiles”.

He said: "The fight against child sex abuse online is only as strong as its weakest link. Facebook's decision to allow the encrypted sharing of images makes them a very weak link indeed.”

In response, Jess Phillips, UK minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said there was “nothing more important” for the government than keeping children safe, adding it was “committed to the robust implementation of the Online Safety Act” and would “not hesitate to go further if tech companies fail to play their part”.

The exchange comes as Ofcom prepares to enforce the Act next year.

Yet, since receiving royal assent last year, the Act has come under fire from campaigners for not going far enough, with research showing platforms are under-performing in their responsibility to manage and take down harmful content. 

Phillips continued: “The home secretary has met with representatives from Meta and our officials are in regular contact and what we say in all these discussions is very simple.

“For years Meta has been an industry leader when it comes to preventing and detecting child sex abuse online and what we all want to see is them continuing to play that positive role and not, as my honourable friend fears, going in the opposite direction.”

Speaking after HOQ Gregor Poynton said failing to act could “risk undermining years of progress in tackling online child abuse”.

He added: “While encryption has its place in ensuring privacy, it must not come at the expense of child safety. I will continue to press the government and tech companies to take urgent and decisive action to ensure that online platforms are not exploited by those who wish to harm children."

In May, research by the Edinburgh-based global child safety institute Childlight found that more than 300 million children worldwide has been victims of online sex abuse over the past year, and earlier this month, head of the institute Paul Stanfield claimed online child sexual exploitation and abuse had to be tackled like a global pandemic.

In his address at Holyrood’s International Law Enforcement in a Digital Age summit, Stanfield said the crime "acts like a disease, and that it mutates and adapts to our efforts to stop and prevent it".