More than 3,400 child abuse image crimes recorded in past five years – figures

Over 3,400 child sexual abuse image crimes have been recorded in Scotland over the past five years, prompting calls for the UK Government to take tougher action to prevent such images being shared.

More than 700 abuse image offences were logged by Police Scotland each year over the past two years, data obtained by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) showed.

A separate Freedom of Information request also showed that where police in the UK recorded the platform used by perpetrators, exactly half took place on Snapchat and a quarter on Meta products.

A number of charities including the NSPCC have written a joint letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper expressing concern over Ofcom’s Illegal Harms Code of Practice published in December 2014.

The charities argue that as the code stands, children will not be protected from the worst forms of abuse on private messaging services, despite this being a core aim of the Online Safety Act.

The NSPCC, the Marie Collins Foundation, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and Barnardo’s wants the Government to push Ofcom to review and strengthen their code of practice to tackle the threat.

A total of 3,419 child sexual abuse image crimes were recorded by Police Scotland over the past five years: 554 in 2018-19; 584 in 2019-20; 660 in 2020-21; 662 in 2021-22; 765 in 2022-23; and 748 in 2023-24.

NSPCC chief executive Chris Sherwood said: “It is deeply alarming to see thousands of child sexual abuse image crimes recorded by Police Scotland in the past five years.

“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.”

A government spokesperson said: “Child sexual exploitation and abuse is despicable, and has a devastating impact on victims.

“UK law is clear: child sexual abuse is illegal and social media is no exception, so companies must ensure criminal activity cannot proliferate on their sites.

“The government is committed to the robust implementation of the Online Safety Act to ensure it delivers on its aim to make the UK the safest place online for children.

“We have already introduced four new laws to crack down on child sexual abuse online, but tech company design choices cannot be used as an excuse not to root out these heinous crimes – and we will not hesitate to go further to protect children from vile online predators.”

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “The law says that measures in our codes of practice must be technically feasible.

“However, we expect the vast majority of platforms will be able to take content down and we will hold them to account if they don’t.

“There’ll be measures all platforms will need to take to protect children, such as reviewing child sexual abuse material when they become aware of it and reporting it to law enforcement.”

Scotland’s children’s minister Natalie Don-Innes said: “While regulation of the internet is reserved to the UK Government, we have engaged extensively on the Online Safety Act to strengthen protections for young people.

“Both the Community Safety Minister and I met Ofcom in August to emphasise the responsibility of tech firms to deliver effective safeguards for young people online, including the need for more prescriptive guidance to providers. The First Minister has also written directly to tech firms to remind them of their responsibilities.

“We will continue to engage with all relevant parties on the implementation of this important piece of legislation and to press for stronger protections to help keep children and young people in Scotland safe online.”