Chief Executive and Principal Commissioner of the Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC), Cheryl Vardon has decried the increasing use of social media accounts to abuse children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Throughout the pandemic, the opportunities for children to explore the internet have grown in line with greater demand for screen time,” Ms Vardon said.
“From this, we are seeing an increase in cases of online child exploitation, including grooming, image-based abuse and the spread of self-produced sexually explicit material.”
She said research from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) found most children aged four and older used the internet in some capacity.
“The same data indicated that when it comes to unsupervised internet access, more children than not were using the internet unsupervised by 11 years of age, and more than 80 per cent of children were using the internet independently once over 14 years of age,” Ms Vardon said.
“The ACCCE also reported a significant spike in reports of online child exploitation during COVID-19 lockdowns.”
She said that, in 2020, the Australian Federal Police charged 191 people with child-abuse-related offences and rescued 89 children from harm.
“From my briefings with Queensland Police, I know the risk of online exploitation is no longer limited to older adults preying on young people,” Ms Vardon said.
“We are seeing a significant increase in self-produced, peer-to-peer images being shared,” she said.
“Sadly, teenage girls are at highest risk of exploitation.
“It may come as a shock that in some cases images continue to circulate 20 years after being shared.”
Ms Vardon said in the case of younger children, it was important to resist demands for extra screen time, no matter how big the tantrum.
“Swap screen time for green time and encourage children to engage with the world in a real-life way,” she said.
“For older children, a social media contract can be an effective way to establish rules around using their devices.
“That can include an agreement about times they can be online, content they post, or a parent’s right to review their online behaviour,” Ms Vardon said.
