More than 10 crimes of indecent images of children recorded in West Midlands every day - report reveals
Figures released by the Home Office show that 3,801 child abuse image crimes were logged by police forces across the West Midlands in the past year - with private messaging platforms being exploited to share to share indecent material.
Home Office data revealed that police forces in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands recorded an average of 10 indecent image crimes a day last year (2023/24).
A separate Freedom of Information request submitted by the NSPCC to forces across the UK showed that half of the offences recorded last year took place on Snapchat. A quarter took place on Meta products – 11% on Instagram, 7% on Facebook and 6% on WhatsApp.
The NSPCC, alongside Bernado's and the Marie Collins Foundation, have written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Peter Kyle to demand an increase in protection for children on online messaging platforms.
The letter highlights concerns from charities about Ofcom's new rules, saying they don't fully protect children from abuse on private messaging services. Ofcom's rule that illegal content only needs to be removed if it’s "technically feasible" is seen as a loophole that lets some services avoid basic child protections.
The charities demand the UK Government to push Ofcom to review and strengthen their most recent codes of practice on tackling this threat to children's safety online and is urging private messaging services, including those with end-to-end encryption, to have strong safeguards in place to prevent their platforms from being used by those sharing child sexual abuse material.
End-to-end encryption keeps messages private between users, meaning service providers can't see if abusive content is being shared.
Chris Sherwood, NSPCC Chief Executive, said: "It is deeply alarming to see thousands of child sexual abuse image crimes continue to be recorded by police in the West Midlands.
"These offences cause tremendous harm and distress to children, with much of this illegal material being repeatedly shared and viewed online. It is an outrage that in 2025 we are still seeing a blatant disregard from tech companies to prevent this illegal content from proliferating on their sites.
“Having separate rules for private messaging services lets tech bosses off the hook from putting robust protections for children in place. This enables crimes to continue to flourish on their platforms even though we now have the Online Safety Act.
"The Government must set out how they will take a bold stand against abuse on private messaging services and hold tech companies accountable for keeping children safe, even if it requires changes to the platform’s design – there can be no excuse for inaction or delay. "
Meta have introduced Teen Accounts with built-in protections that limit who can contact teens, preventing suspicious adults from finding and interacting with teens and with each other, and warning teens who are already in contact with these adults. Reporting tools can also be used to prompt review and action in Meta apps even with end-to-end encryption.
A Snapchat spokesperson said: "“The sexual exploitation of any member of our community is illegal and horrific. If we are made aware of such content, whether through our proactive detection efforts or confidential in-app reporting, we remove it, lock the violating account, and report to authorities.
"Snapchat is designed to make it difficult for predators to find and interact with young people and has extra safeguards in place to help prevent strangers from connecting with teens. Our Family Centre also allows parents to see who their teens are friends with and talking to on Snapchat.
"We work with expert NGOs, and industry peers to jointly attack these problems and don’t believe the methodology used in this report reflects the seriousness of our collective commitment and efforts.”