Facebook Urged To Abandon Encryption Plans After Child Abuse Reports Reduced By 50% But …

A new law has been blamed for halving police warnings, according to activists, because it prioritizes online privacy over child violence. Child abuse cases in Europe have more than halved as a result of new privacy regulations, prompting Facebook to suspend its encryption plans. After the EU ruled that the scanning technology that identifies child abuse was a threat to Facebook users’ privacy, the social media site was forced to turn it off. The move resulted in a 58 percent decrease in child abuse reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which then passes the details on to police all over the world to investigate. The scanning turn-off, according to the NSPCC, is a preview of what could happen if Facebook goes ahead with its plans to implement end-to-end encryption of communications across all of its platforms. It means the organization won’t be able to read and intercept messages as easily as it can now with its scanning technology. “This staggering decline in reports means child sexual exploitation is going undetected and undisrupted, potentially leaving young victims without support,” Alison Trew, Senior Child Safety Online Policy Officer at the NSPCC, said. “This also serves as a…
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