Facebook at risk of becoming a 'one-stop grooming shop', NSPCC warnsThe NSPCC has warned Facebook that it risks becoming a "one-stop grooming shop" if it presses ahead with plans to encrypt across all its messaging services.Facebook is considering end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct - on top of WhatsApp, which is already encrypted - but there has been a deep concern that the move could prevent child abusers being caught. Out of 9,259 instances where police in England and Wales said, they know the platform used in child abuse image and online child sexual offences; just over 4,000 were carried out on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. Only 3 per cent (299 instances) were from WhatsApp, which the NSPCC says highlights how difficult it becomes to detect crimes on an end-to-end encrypted platform. "Instead of working to protect children and make the online world they live in safer, Facebook is actively choosing to give offenders a place to hide in the shadows and risks making itself a one-stop grooming shop," said Andy Burrows, NSPCC's head of child safety online policy. The NSPCC fears the true scale could be much higher, as only 32 of the 43 police forces approached provided information.

Source: Standard Digital December 05, 2019 00:00 UTC