The online environment is currently not safe for children, and the country has failed two generations by not providing adequate safety nets, warned Graeme Biggar, the Director-General of the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA).
Biggar, often referred to as the head of 'Britain's FBI,' stated that his investigators are receiving an average of 400 reports per day concerning the abuse of British children. This figure represents a fourfold increase over the past seven years. On some days, the number of suspected child sexual exploitation cases flagged can surge to as high as 900.
The NCA receives these reports from tech companies, which detect abuse on their platforms and forward information about British victims to a global crime reporting system in the U.S. This system then passes the details to the NCA for analysis. The agency aims to identify high-risk cases and relay them to local police within a day.
Last year, the NCA and police made 1,000 arrests of offenders and safeguarded 1,200 children each month. However, Biggar stressed the need for societal action, stating, "We have to raise the alarm on the scale of this happening."
The reports encompass a range of offenses, including child pornography, predators enticing children into sexual acts, and child sexual trafficking. While many threats originate from adults, the NCA noted that some material is posted by other teenagers.
The NCA has provided a breakdown of reports from various platforms. Instagram averages about 75 suspected child abuse images per day, while Snapchat sees around 100. Gaming platforms are also a concern, with Roblox reporting approximately 25 reports daily and Discord, an instant messaging platform for gamers, reporting about 50 suspicious incidents per day. Google and X (formerly Twitter) each report an average of 25 images per day where a British child may have been harmed.
Biggar highlighted that end-to-end encryption on some platforms hinders tech companies from identifying the full scale of the problem. He specifically mentioned Meta's decision to encrypt messages, suggesting it led to a 50% drop in reported child sexual abuse on its platforms.
Meta, in response, stated that in 2025, they removed over 36 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content from Facebook and Instagram, with over 94% detected proactively before being reported. Discord commented that their safety systems combine technology and human investigations with user reports to identify harmful activity.
Biggar's warning comes as Meta faces a significant trial in the U.S. brought by 29 states, alleging that Facebook and Instagram are designed to be addictive to children and that the company unlawfully collected minors' data.