Childlight: 'Child abusers are using dating apps at record levels.'

Approximately two-thirds of offenders convicted of child abuse reported using dating apps in a survey they participated in.

According to a new study conducted by the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, the rate of using dating platforms among offenders convicted of child abuse is nearly four times higher compared to non-offenders. The findings of the study indicate that nearly two-thirds of men who sexually assault children use dating platforms, and one in five offenders states that they spend time on such apps every day. The research, conducted on a sample of 5,000 men in the UK, the US, and Australia, found that 11.5% of the men surveyed harbored sexual feelings towards children, and 11% revealed a criminal history. Participants were also asked whether their behavior on online platforms could be characterized as sexual abuse of children. One in nine men in the US indicated that it could be characterized as such, while the rate was 7% in the UK and 7.5% in Australia. Researchers characterized the online sexual exploitation and abuse of children as a global "epidemic," warning that it affects more than 300 million children each year. The report was published during a period when the European Commission presented a series of proposals to expand the scope of existing regulations for voluntary detection of abuse and to revise laws on sexual exploitation of children. One particularly controversial topic has been the potential scanning of end-to-end encrypted communications. Currently, online companies are allowed to identify illegal content under a temporary exemption from the EU's e-privacy law, but this exemption will expire in April 2026. Professor Michael Salter, one of the authors of the report, noted that dating apps lack adequate security measures and expressed concerns that single parents and their children could be targeted by offenders through such platforms. "There is no reason why the high-security user identification methods used in the banking sector shouldn't be adopted by dating app platforms," he said. "Similarly, there are a range of artificial intelligence tools and systems capable of identifying distressing expressions."