Popular social media platforms used by Canadians report rise in suspected child sexual abuse material found on their services


For Immediate Release

Winnipeg, Manitoba — Major technology platforms Canadians use daily — including Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Pinterest — collectively flagged more than 31.8 million reports of suspected child sexual abuse material on their services in 2022, an increase of more than 2.6 million relative to the previous year.

Electronic service providers (ESPs) based in the United States are required by law to report the discovery of suspected child sexual abuse content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which published its latest mandatory reporting figures Tuesday this week.

Report volumes for 2022 made by popular platform include:

  • Tiktok: 288,125 (154,618 in 2021) an 86.3% increase
  • Instagram: 5.0 million (3.4 million in 2021) a 47.1% increase
  • Facebook: 21.2 million (22.1 million in 2021) a 4.1% decrease
  • Discord: 169,800 (29,606 in 2021) a 473.5% increase
  • Pinterest: 34,310 (2,283 in 2021) a 1,402.8% increase
  • Snapchat: 551,086 (512,522 in 2021) a 7.5% increase
  • Twitter: 98,050 (86,666 in 2021) a 13.1% increase
  • Omegle: 608,601 (46,924 in 2021) a 1,197.0% increase
  • Google: 2.2 million (875,783 in 2021) a 151.2% increase
  • Apple: 234 (160 in 2021) a 46.3% increase

In the U.S. and Canada, ESPs are legally required to report suspected child sexual abuse material when they become aware of its presence, however, there exists no legal requirements for companies to make use of prevention tools designed to block the upload of known child sexual abuse material.

“These figures are rising either due to an increase in distribution of this material by users, or because companies are only now starting to look under the hood of their platforms, or both,” says Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P).

McDonald says these numbers continue to underscore the urgent need for governments to step in and mandate online safety standards and duties of care in the technology sector.

C3P encourages members of the media to reach out directly to the relevant ESPs for comment.

Media contact:
1 (204) 560-0723
communications@protectchildren.ca

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About the Canadian Centre for Child Protection: The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) is a national charity dedicated to the personal safety of all children. The organization’s goal is to reduce the sexual abuse and exploitation of children through programs, services, and resources for Canadian families, educators, child serving organizations, law enforcement, and other parties. C3P also operates Cybertip.ca, Canada’s national tipline to report child sexual abuse and exploitation on the internet, and Project Arachnid, a web platform designed to detect known images of CSAM on the clear and dark web and issue removal notices to industry.

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