Call for Facebook encryption rethink after fear for child safety – The National

A POLL has shown that the majority of adults believe Facebook is failing in its duty of care to protect children, with three out of four believingit is unsafe.

TheNational Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Scotland has urged the tech giant not to turn a blind eye to abuse and rethink its encryption plans or face tough sanctions.

Out of 180 adults in Scotland, just one in five (22%) said the tech giant took the safety of children using the site seriously and two thirds (66%) believed the platform was failing in its duty of care to protect children.

The results for Scotland were similar to those of the whole Great Britain sample, which consisted of 2070 adults.

The claims came in an NSPCC/ Savanta ComRes poll following the tech giants announcement that they will encrypt messages on Facebook and Instagram.

The charity previously revealed that one in 25 young people (11- to 17-year-olds) who used Facebook or Facebook Messenger had sent, received or been asked to send sexual content to an adult.

It is now warning the tech giant not to create hiding places for abusers by pressing ahead with encryption plans that dont have strong safeguards in place.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who admitted that his plans would protect theprivacy of people doing bad things, has failed to give any clear answers in how he intends to stop groomers preying on children on his site.

The NSPCC is calling for supporters tosign an open letter to Facebookdemanding they put children first as part of its Wild West Web campaign.

Andy Burrows, NSPCC head of child safety online policy, said: Facebook has been called out for its abject failure to make their platforms safe, yet their encryption plans will give offenders a free pass to abuse children while they look the other way.

This cavalier approach risks creating a one-stop grooming shop if Facebook dont include strong safeguards that protect children in their encryption plan.

Boris Johnson must make it clear that upcoming regulation will force Facebook to guarantee childrens safety on its messaging services or be hit hard in the pocket for failing in its duty ofcare.

The NSPCC is calling for:

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Call for Facebook encryption rethink after fear for child safety - The National