Child sexual abuse image crimes in Northern Ireland have almost doubled in Northern Ireland over the last five years.
The NSPCC has revealed that crimes involving images of child sexual abuse reported to the PSNI have risen by almost a quarter (24%) in the last 12 months and almost doubled over the last five years (98%).
In 2023/24, there were 859 offences recorded, compared to 434 in 2018/19, with the total number of recorded child sexual abuse material crimes over this period being 3,382.
Chris Sherwood, NSPCC Chief Executive, said action needs to be taken to protect children in here.
“It is deeply alarming to see hundreds of child sexual abuse image crimes continue to be recorded by police in NI.
“These offences cause tremendous harm and distress to children, with much of this illegal material being repeatedly shared and viewed online.
“It is an outrage that in 2025 we are still seeing a blatant disregard from tech companies to prevent this illegal content from proliferating on their sites,” he said.
Separate statistics obtained by the NSPCC showed that in England, Scotland and Wales exactly half (50%) of crimes took place on Snapchat and a quarter on Meta products — 11% on Instagram, 7% on Facebook and 6% on WhatsApp.
This stat is likely to be similar in Northern Ireland although the PSNI doesn’t record what platforms the crimes took place on.
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The NSPCC has raised concerns surrounding Ofcom’s final Illegal Harms Code of Practice published in December 2024.
The charity argues that as it stands, children will not be protected from the worst forms of abuse on private messaging services under Ofcom’s plans, despite this being a core aim of the Online Safety Act.
Ofcom has stated that user-to-user services are only required to remove illegal content where it is ‘technically feasible’. This exception creates a loophole, allowing some services to avoid delivering the most basic protections for children.
Data from police forces on the number of recorded offences where the platform was known indicates private messaging sites are involved in more crimes than any other type of platform, with perpetrators exploiting the secrecy offered by these spaces to harm children and go undetected.
The NSPCC wants the UK Government to push Ofcom to review and strengthen their most recent codes of practice for tackling this threat to children’s safety online.
“Having separate rules for private messaging services lets tech bosses off the hook from putting robust protections for children in place. This enables crimes to continue to flourish on their platforms even though we now have the Online Safety Act.
“The Government must set out how they will take a bold stand against abuse on private messaging services and hold tech companies accountable for keeping children safe, even if it requires changes to the platform’s design — there can be no excuse for inaction or delay,” Mr Sherwood said.
The charity is also calling for private messaging services, including those using end-to-end encryption, to ensure platforms do not act as a ‘safe haven’ for perpetrators of child sexual abuse.