// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Former minister calls for phone tech to block live-streamed child sex abuse
The UK is one of the three biggest markets for live streamed child sexual abuse in the world
Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has joined calls from campaigners for the government to back new technology that blocks the live-streaming of child sexual abuse.
The UK National Crime Agency has flagged the UK as the third biggest market in the world, external for live-streamed abuse, where children are sexually abused live on camera to order.
Device-level blockers can prevent this material being filmed and viewed on smartphones, laptops and tablets in the first place, Phillips said, at the launch of a policy report in Parliament.
Anti-abuse campaigners claim keeping the technology at device level maintains privacy and encryption. Civil liberties campaigners Big Brother Watch dispute this.
The government has already legislated to demand tech firms like Apple and Google, which develop the operating systems of most smartphones used in the UK, block under-18s from taking or sharing nude images on smartphones and other devices.
However, three-quarters of child sexual abuse material (CSA) was not self-generated but likely captured on adult devices, according to 2025 research from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which works to eliminate child sexual abuse imagery online.
Some 1.8 million men in the UK admitted to some form of online sexual offending against children, according to research from child safety institute Childlight.
Phillips, who complained of repeated delays to work to tackle CSA when she resigned as safeguarding minister in May, is demanding action to tackle the source of the crime and reduce the number of British offenders.
"This should be a source of national shame, and we must stop it," the Labour MP said.