Grooming refers to the “actions deliberately undertaken to befriend and establish an emotional connection with a child, to lower the child’s inhibitions in preparation for sexual activity”.
Children’s increasing presence in online space has led to a significant increase in online grooming cases. Due to the rapid development of new social media platforms, regulation of children's online safety is becoming more difficult.
Perpetrators tend to target children within their close circle or contact children online by creating fake profiles. After establishing trust through consistent attention and creating the appearance of a friendly or even romantic relationship, perpetrators will begin to sexualise the relationship, oftentimes by inciting the child to create and share self-generated intimate content. The images are then used by the groomer to extort even more content and to blackmail the child into continuing the abusive relationship. In some cases, the self-generated content is distributed by the perpetrator on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) hosting sites or shared with other offenders to create false profiles, to trick and solicit other children online.
Children who have been victimised and experienced grooming are likely to suffer from serious long-term mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts. Especially children who have been solicited into creating and sharing intimate content of themselves tend to experience a lot of shame and blame themselves for the abuse.
While all children, regardless of their social, religious, or ethnic background can be targeted by an online grooming attempt, certain demographics are statistically more frequently targeted by perpetrators. Girls, between the ages of 13 and 17, as well as children with increased vulnerabilities such as mental or physical disabilities, are more likely to be solicited.
How can we safeguard children?
As grooming develops into an overwhelmingly digital issue, it becomes increasingly important to educate children on how to safely navigate through online spaces. As platforms are mostly accessed from home, using the internet can feel like a safe space for children - it is crucial to emphasise to children that using the internet can be risky and that they need to proceed with caution. Be aware of the tools and techniques used by perpetrators to be able to spot the signs early on and interfere as soon as they suspect inappropriate contact.
Additionally, it is crucial that online communication platforms that host children are held accountable to establish and maintain more child-oriented and safety-oriented environments. This can be attempted through the implementation of ID and age verification for all users through which children's profiles could be automatically set to private or restricted to communicating with adults.