Facebook encryption will create ‘hidden space’ for paedophiles to abuse children
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Warning issued as predator who targeted thousands of children on Facebook Messenger jailed.
By Lizzie Dearden, Home Affairs Correspondent
Facebook’s encryption plans will create a ‘hidden space’ where paedophiles can abuse children beyond the reach of law enforcement, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned.
Senior officials said the UK received 12 million tips over child sex abuse images and suspicious activity from the social network last year, and that if the ‘taps get turned off’ fewer offenders will be arrested and more children could be at risk.
The NCA’s warning came as one of the UK’s most prolific paedophiles, David Wilson, was jailed for using Facebook to target up to 5,000 children while posing as a teenage girl.
In March 2019, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was working towards end-to-end encryption on all its messaging services that would ‘prevent anyone – including us – from seeing what people share’.
Rob Jones, the NCA’s director for threat leadership, said...
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