Data indicates child-luring has increased exponentially

Online child-luring reports have spiked exponentially in the last five years. Advocates say, while parents play a critical role, the government cannot offload the responsibility of protecting kids online to parents alone.

“It’s important now that we have governments starting to regulate these platforms,” said Catherine Tabak, manager of Cybertip.ca.

“Not enough is being done to protect kids. From the moments to when they’re creating their accounts, to when they’re having those direct messages with people they don’t know — there’s just not enough barriers to keep them safe.”

Data from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection found reports of child luring from 2018 to 2022 jumped by 815 per cent.

Tabak who manages the reporting website says they’ve had to double their personnel.

“When we shared this stat with our staff, they were shocked. Everybody knows it’s been very busy, but I think actually putting the statistic behind it really amplifies that.”

Child luring is when a person, usually an adult, solicits sexual images from minors online, potentially manipulating them into meeting in person, where further abuse could take place.

Tabak says for too long the sole responsibility to keep kids safe online has been on parents.

“We’ve really relied on parents to be taking that step for supervision and intercepting these situations and we just really need to move away from that. It is not reasonable to rely on solely on parents to help address this issue,” said Tabak.

Marking “Safer Internet Day” the Winnipeg-based organization is amplifying calls for government intervention, As many tech companies operate without age verification and allow unknown adults unlimited, unsupervised access to children.

“This is happening right across the globe. Although we’re Canada’s tip line for reporting these incidents. We hear from these kids and families all around the world.”

The data from Cypertip.ca is alarming. By the end of 2022, there were 2,013 reports of child luring received, compared to only 220 in 2018.

Tabak says she wants to meet with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to discuss child safety online, to reverse this disturbing trend.

“We’re just going to continue failing kids. We’re going to lose kids over this — we’re already seeing so many of those situations arise.”