The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned that younger children are being targeted by online groomers “on an industrial scale”.
Research by the IWF shows that in 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation took action against 252,000 URLs which contained images or videos of children being raped and suffering sexual abuse.
In total last year, IWF analysts investigated 361,000 reports, including tip-offs from the public, of suspected criminal material.
This is more than they dealt with in the entire first 15 years of their existence when, from 1996 to 2011 they assessed 335,558 reports, according to the research.
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