A disturbing increase in online predation and exploitation of children that began during the COVID-19 pandemic is not slowing down, according to data released by the B.C. RCMP on Tuesday.
In the first three months of 2023 alone, the B.C. RCMP’s Integrated Child Exploitation Unit (BC ICE) received more than 5,790 reports of sexually exploitative or abusive material, with help from domestic and international policing partners, including Interpol and the FBI.
If the online exploitation continues at its current rate, Mounties say 2023 is on track to more than double the number of incidents reported in 2022, which saw more than 9,600 cases.
“The numbers are definitely shocking,” Cpl. Sharen Leung of BC ICE told Global News.
“What’s important is that parents and guardians know that the dangers do exist online, versus thinking and hoping that they don’t, because it is the sad and harsh reality of the world we live in right now.”
There were more than 4,600 incidents reported in 2021. Police said the pandemic caused many people to stay at home, online, contributing to the overall upward trend.
Once they receive the reports from their partners, Leung said, RCMP investigate whether the alleged offender is responsible for possessing or creating the material. In an increasingly online world with infinite opportunity on social media, it’s important parents teach their children about internet safety, she added.
“As parents and guardians, we’ve taught our kids from a very young age to look both sides of the street while crossing the street,” Leung explained.
“We should do the same things for online traffic as well, because there is a lot of communication that is coming into our false sense of safety in our homes through the internet, where there might be some reach out of unsolicited friend requests from unknown people.”
Most unsolicited conversations and requests tend to occur on popular social media and chat platforms that many of us use every day, she added, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, and Twitter.
Last summer, a Dutch man was convicted in the high-profile sextortion case of 15-year-old Amanda Todd of Port Coquitlam. Todd died by suicide in 2012 after posting a video that described being tormented by her online harasser. The video has been viewed millions of times.
Her mother, Carol Todd, has since become a fierce anti-cyberbullying and internet child safety advocate. She said Tuesday’s RCMP numbers “shocked” her, but she’s not surprise by the upward trend, given changes to technology and internet use since her own daughter’s exploitation began in 2009.
“What has happened is the advancement of technology, but also that devices are being given to children younger, and younger and younger,” she said. “We know that children just don’t necessarily have the brain capacity to say, ‘No,’ to know if online, if someone is coercing them or luring them or grooming them.”
Todd encouraged youth and parents to report any inappropriate incident, no matter how small it may seem. She said the massive increase in incidents could be the result of an increase in reporting — and that’s a good thing.
“Reporting is the only way to get that information, that knowledge out — to make people realize this is a real thing, this isn’t a one-off, that it won’t happen to my child,” she told Global News.
“You don’t want to scare everybody with the numbers, and they will get scared, but maybe that’s our wakeup call.”
Todd encouraged parents to take a look at the privacy settings on their children’s devices and applications, but not rely on adjusting them, given that kids can always change the settings or use someone else’s device.
“The best course of action is to always have those talks with your kids and build that relationship up,” she said. “These are the questions you need to watch out for — come to me and I will help you.”
Age-appropriate resources for parents and children are available on the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s website and through Canada’s national tip line for reporting online exploitation, cybertip.ca.
Editor’s note: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelled Const. Sharen Leung’s last name.
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