Former UK safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has thrown her weight behind a campaign urging the government to adopt technology that can block live-streamed child sexual abuse at the device level. The move comes as the UK National Crime Agency identifies the country as the third-largest market for live-streamed abuse, where children are sexually abused on camera to order.
A Call for Device-Level Blockers
Speaking at the launch of a policy report in Parliament, Phillips argued that device-level blockers can prevent abuse material from being filmed and viewed on smartphones, laptops, and tablets in the first place. "This should be a source of national shame, and we must stop it," the Labour MP said. "The technology, the evidence and the public support are all there - I want to work with ministers to extend on-device blocking to child sexual abuse material on every device sold in Britain, making children here and over the world safer."
The proposed software uses artificial intelligence to classify known child abuse images within the phone's operating system, blocking the material at the moment it is viewed or created, regardless of the app in use. Crucially, nothing is logged, stored, or sent anywhere, and the technology works alongside encryption, according to campaigners.
Privacy Concerns and Government Action
Anti-abuse campaigners claim that keeping the technology at device level maintains privacy and encryption, but civil liberties group Big Brother Watch disputes this. The government has already legislated to require tech firms like Apple and Google to block under-18s from taking or sharing nude images on smartphones and other devices. However, research from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) indicates that three-quarters of child sexual abuse material is not self-generated but likely captured on adult devices.
Phil Eccles from the National Crime Agency described the scale of the problem as "at crisis point." He said: "This would cut off at source somebody on the UK their ability to direct a live stream for a child to be abused. To me, safeguarding children will always supersede the ability to prosecute. If we can stop that abuse we must. But it's so important that tech companies come onboard - we cannot arrest our way out of this problem."
Survivors and International Dimensions
The event also heard from survivors of online child sexual abuse, who said they should not have to beg for the removal of images of themselves being abused from the internet. Conservative Lord Nash, who led the campaign for an under-16s social media ban, added: "By the time the police are involved, a child has already been abused and the images and videos have gone round the globe. The material has to be blocked on the phone itself, before the harm is done. The government deserves real credit for committing to exactly that on children's phones. I urge it now to extend that commitment to every device sold in Britain, targeted at CSA material, and to lead the world in doing so."
John Tanagho from the International Justice Mission highlighted how children in poorer countries are being targeted, with research showing one in every 100 Filipino children are victims. He stressed that legislation should explicitly limit scans to CSA material, with no data shared with the government or private companies, to maintain privacy.
A government spokesperson said: "We are putting in place the strongest online safety laws in the world. This includes preparing world-first legislation to call on the biggest technology companies to make it impossible for children to take, share or view nude images. We will also give the police the powers they need to keep pace with criminal use of emerging technologies in order to keep our children safe."
With nearly 1.8 million men in the UK admitting to some form of online sexual offending against children, according to Childlight, the pressure is mounting on the government to act decisively and extend device-level blocking to all devices sold in Britain.
