Grooming Cases Reach Unprecedented Heights Amidst Regulatory Delays

Campaigners are calling for no more delays in the online safety bill, which is being pushed by the Government, as thousands of crimes related to online grooming have been reported during the wait for updated online safety laws. 

There has been a lengthy wait before the long-awaited bill can become law, but the proposed legislation went through repeated changes and delays on its way to becoming law in the autumn. Additionally, ministers have come under fire in recent days from tech companies for what they think is an attempt by the government to undermine encryption technology.

A call has been made by the NSPCC to support the bill after the charity announced that in the last six years, UK police forces have recorded 34,000 cases of online grooming crimes, affecting children and young people. In 2017, the charity began calling for more robust online safety regulations to be put in place in order to protect users. 

NSPCC statistics show that 6350 incidents of sexual communication with children were reported last year, an increase of 82 per cent since the offence of sexual communication with children was introduced in 2017/18, according to data obtained from 42 UK police forces. 

Moreover, the figures say that in 83 percent of the cases of social media grooming over the last six years, when the gen

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