Pedophiletricks 7-year-olds into taking photos and videos of themselves and sharing them online, charity warns .
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found that since 2020, 360% of "self-generated" child sexual abuse images showing children aged 7 to her 10 record the increase.
Calls on governments, tech companies, law enforcement and educational institutions to tackle the "digital emergency."
IWF Chief Executive Susie Hargreaves said abusers target children in the home in ways that should be "totally preventable."
She added, "Children are not responsible. They are often coerced, tricked or pressured by sexual abusers on the Internet."
"Only educating parents, caregivers and children, combined with efforts by technology companies, governments, police and the third sector, can stem this tide of criminal imagery."
The IWF, which operates a hotline to combat child sexual abuse imagery, said that children in elementary school appeared to be filming themselves at the direction of someone they were communicating with online. I have been warned about a horrifying example.
According to the charity, the fastest increase in detected self-generated images occurred between her ages of 7 and 10, with the largest proportion occurring between her ages of 11 and her They were 13 year olds.
Content sent to individuals or posted to publicly accessible accounts is distributed through online forums used by pedophiles.
The Home Secretary said he supports police and the National Crime Agency in tracking down "disgusting criminals who abuse children both in the UK and abroad" .
Priti Patel added: I have pursued policies and actions to ensure that technology companies hold themselves accountable for keeping children safe.
Ian Critchley, head of child protection for the National Police, said technology companies and platforms must "fulfill their moral obligations" and keep children safe.
He added: "The scale of this imagery increase should shock us all. It also highlights the need to focus on reactions within society and across our systems."
Critchley said the effects of the Covid lockdown are still being seen. Children were left more vulnerable to online sexual abuse, were unsupervised, had less contact with teachers and other professionals, and spent more time online.
"The police have repeatedly expressed their commitment to bring criminals to justice, but the responsibility for this goes well beyond the police, and ultimately the biggest difference is that these online It can and should be brought to you by the technology companies and platforms that have created communities, and we must take responsibility for making sure that children can use them safely,” he added. rice field.
The National Crime Agency said pedophiles use online games and social media platforms to seek out children and force them to share sexual images.
Sarah Bright, Deputy Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse, said:
“Fighting this growing threat is a priority for the NCA and UK police. 10,181 criminals were arrested or interrogated.
"Education is also an important part of our response, and young people to prevent online sexual abuse from happening in the first place.”
We are introducing proposed amendments to the Online Safety Bill to strengthen its powers.
Businesses will be able to require technology to prevent, identify and remove content and implement effective systems.
