THE NSPCC is today warning of the risks posed to children using livestreaming or video chat, and calling for government action to protect children from online abuse.
An NSPCC survey of 1,196 children in the East of England aged seven to 16 revealed a 23% have livestreamed, and 16% have video-chatted with someone they’ve never met in person.
The charity’s Wild West Web campaign is calling for the creation of an independent regulator that will hold social networks to account and force them to introduce measures to make livestreaming and video-chatting safer.
Of the children who had video-chatted with someone they hadn’t met, more than one in seven had been asked to get undressed, and nearly one in ten who had livestreamed were asked to remove clothes.
The NSPCC’s #WildWestWeb campaign is calling on government to create an independent regulator for social networks. To make livestreaming safer:
Sites must have real-time nudity detection for livestreaming and video chat on children’s accounts.
Children must be given Safe Accounts with extra protections built in.
Live video must be limited to contacts approved by the child.
