The report of the Joint Scrutiny Committee the On-line Safety Bill raises many issues and the necessary revisions will take time. [1] The Internet Watch Foundation reported that experts are finding fifteen times as much child sexual abuse material online than they were 10 years ago. If there’s anything certain about the year ahead, it’s that 2022 should finally be the watershed moment to take action to protect children and young people from online abuse. Titled ‘No longer the land of the lawless’, the report includes recommendations for consideration in the Online Safety Bill that are potentially game-changing. Paedophiles no longer need to search extensively for children online to groom, they simply watch a few videos produced by children in a specific age band, gender and ethnicity that meets their preferences.

Source: The Guardian January 19, 2022 10:13 UTC