Thousands of child sexual abuse image crimes logged by Hampshire police last year as NSPCC call for greater control on private messaging services

1,239 of those crimes were reported in Hampshire between 2023 and 2024 according to Home Office data. A freedom of Information request by NSPCC to police forces across the country shows that 50 per cent of perpetrators used Snapchat and a quarter used Meta products (11 per cent Instagram, 7 per cent on Facebook, and 6 per cent on WhatsApp).

A joint letter from charities, including the NSPCC, has been sent to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and the secretary of state for science, innovation, and technology Peter Kyle, urging Ofcom to have tighter restrictions on private messaging services.

Ofcom's final Illegal Harms Code of Practice currently states that user-to-user services are only required to remove illegal content where it is ‘technically feasible’. The charities argues that this provides a “loophole” where some services can avoid delivering basic protections to children.

Chris Sherwood, NSPCC chief executive, said: "It is deeply alarming to see thousands of child sexual abuse image crimes continue to be recorded by police in the South East of England. 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.

“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. "

During 2023/24, Childline delivered 903 counselling sessions to children and young people relating to blackmail or threats to expose or share sexual images online, a 7 per cent increase compared to 2022/23.

Data from the police where the platform used in the crime is known, shows that private messaging sites are involved in more crimes than any other type of platform. The NSPCC is as such calling for the government to pressure Ofcom into strengthening its code of practice to tackle the threat to children.

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