Richard Hogan: Our children are being sexualised, surrounded with extreme material
Hogan Richard Nolan Photograph Moya
The recent warning by The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) that there has been a sharp increase in child sexual abuse webpages featuring self-generated child sexual abuse material from children under 10, should wake parents up to the fact that pre-teen children should not have a smartphone in their hands.
The majority of those images were self-generated. If ever we needed a moment to wake us up to what is happening to our children online, this is it.
Our children are becoming sexualised earlier by the material they are consuming on their devices. Their childhood is being robbed, and we are supine as we watch the deaths of innocence and childhood. Once those are gone, they cannot be got back. And it is such a precious thing.
The IWF called this new trend ‘shocking’. The idea that children under 10 are being coerced, blackmailed, tricked, or groomed into performing sexually online is a clear indicator that we need robust legislation to protect them. IWF data shows that a record 275,655 websites contained self-generated child sexual abuse materia in 2023, an 8% rise from the previous year. This figure should ring the warning bell in every house across this country: Of those 275,655 images, 92% were self-generated.
Our children are being sexualised. They are surrounded with extreme sexual material and it normalises the making of these videos and the creation of sexually explicit images. It has to stop.
Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the IWF, said: “The imagery, extorted or coerced from primary school-aged children, is now finding its way onto the most extreme, dedicated child sexual-abuse sites in shocking numbers.”
What more evidence do we need? How much more more data do we need before we act, and act with clarity and strength? The new media regulator has an opportunity to set out Ireland’s stall, and show these giant tech companies that we put our children before profit. Currently, there is nothing in place to stop a child consuming hardcore sexual material.
Sexual images are ubiquitous on social media. They are impacting our children’s development and future ability to experience intimacy and love. I am seeing the early signs of this tsunami in my clinic. I fear that the new legislation will be weak, and not put enough responsibility back on the tech companies. And I have to ask: Why is that? Why don’t we want to be strong with them, and bring in robust laws? Are we that frightened of them? Worried they will leave our shores? They are not here for the educated workers and good climate: They are here for the nice tax benefits.
Profit is their master. And they are making serious profit on our shores, and we are the ones scared to upset them.
This is bigger than a parenting issue. This requires our government to stand up and have teeth and show the world that we protect the sanctity of our children’s innocence, and we refuse to allow profit to destroy it.
Jeremy Godfrey, executive chairperson of Coimisiún na Meán, has a real opportunity to show these tech companies that they cannot destroy our children’s innocence with impunity.
But I fear the new legislation will be another lost opportunity, another sign of how weak we are, and how driven our society is by profit. Not that we really needed more evidence of that.
That Mr Godfrey has already indicated that the legislation will not be prescriptive is alarming and confusing. How can a law be effective when it is not prescriptive? That’s like saying you must close your pub, but in your own time.
What ridiculous logic is driving this idea of non-prescriptive legislation? Father Ted, eat your heart out. It is baffling. When something doesn’t make sense, there is generally a very simple answer: They don’t want it to work.
Another aspect of this new legislation is that they have said that taking down harmful material will be the responsibility of each individual planform. Which means: Do what you want about harmful sexual material on your platform. My God.
We need Coimisiún na Meán to have teeth and to stand for what we hold as important values in this country. We must look at other countries, like Australia, and see how they have stood up to these giants.
There is a fix, even if it’s not easy. We need good digital literacy in our schools, so children are educated. We need upskilling of parents as a matter of urgency. We need tech companies to view children as future users, not current users, like banks do.
But, most of all, we need our government to stand up and bring in robust legislation that will create a culture of good practice in these companies. They cannot regulate themselves.
They must operate under stringent regulation that finally protects our children and shows the world that, here in Ireland, we put our children’s innocence and childhood before profit. But I won’t hold my breath.