Child sex offences skyrocket: how to keep children safe online

Collective Shout quoted in two articles for The Examiner

Anti child sex offence advocates weigh in on state increase

A significant increase in child sex offences in Tasmania has been attributed to a number of factors by anti-child sex offence advocates.

Data showsinvestigations into child sex offences by Tasmania's Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team had increased by 280 per cent since February 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019....

... Anti child exploitation advocacy group Collective Shout campaign manager Melinda Liszewski said child exploitation through social media, particularly through Instagram livestreams, had been an ever-growing issue.

"My colleague yesterday witnessed a mother telling her child to dance [via livestream] and there were all these men commenting and asking for photos - we know there are some parents selling photos of their children through Instagram [too]," she said.

"That's one of the most shocking things for us because Instagram is such a mainstream tool, there's no need to go to the dark web for child exploitation."

Ms Lizewski said more needed to be done to police child exploitation in social media, less it becomes mainstream.

"In plain sight it becomes normalised ... that's why we're going to see increases because these men and some women are becoming more bold and working with other paedophiles - it's just a living nightmare," she said.

Read full article and comments from other child safety experts here.

Another article emphasised the risk of child sexual exploitation and what parents can do to protect their children.

More parental caution as child sex offences skyrocket: experts

With COVID-19 resulting in families staying indoors more often, keeping children safe when using social media has never been more important.

Since February, Tasmania's joint anti child exploitation team has seen a 280 per cent, or 38-case increase in investigations into child sex offences compared to the same time last year....

...Anti child exploitation advocacy group Collective Shout campaign manager Melinda Liszewski said parents needed to watch what photos of their children were being shared on social media.

"These photos are ending up on paedophile forums and we know that because we've stumbled across forums and seen Instragram accounts," she said.

Ms Liszewski said parents should also be cautious of livestreaming their children, and be mindful of any illegal comments.

"Don't let your guard down for a second - this stuff is real and when it happens it's devastating - you don't want your child to go through the trauma," she said.