Sex abuse survivor worries Facebook changes will give predators ‘free rein’ to target children
Facebook plans to introduce end-to-end encryption on its messaging platform, which Rhiannon-Faye McDonald will make it safer for sexual predators
Facebook’s plan to make messages more secure will give predators a ‘free rein’ to target children on the social media site, says a campaigner who was sexually abused as a child.
Facebook plans to introduce end-to-end encryption by the end of 2023, which would mean messages on the platform can only be accessed and read by the sender and recipient. While supporters argue encryption protects personal data, anti-abuse campaigners worry it will prevent Facebook and the police from flagging harmful content, including messages between sexual predators and children.
Abuse survivor Rhiannon-Faye McDonald has written to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
In her letter, Miss McDonald, who waived her right to anonymity, wrote: “Please don’t turn the lights out on your ability to detect child sex abuse. Your company employs some of the world’s brightest minds and we hope that you will harness that expertise to prioritise finding a solution that protects privacy while not putting children in danger.”
The 32-year-old told the PA news agency: “For me, end-to-end encryption is a really big concern… and I think this perspective from victims and survivors has really been missing from this debate.”
Miss McDonald was 13 when she began chatting with a sexual predator posing as a teenage girl, who later persuaded her to send a topless photograph in order to get work as a model. Within 24 hours, the man, who said he was the girl’s boss, turned up at Miss McDonald’s family home and sexually assaulted her.
Miss McDonald did not tell anybody about what happened, but was contacted by police six months later when they were investigating crimes involving another victim. Miss McDonald said she is not against the idea of end-to-end encryption, but that she wants safeguards to be put in place effectively meaning Facebook can continue to flag harmful material.
She said: “For me, the biggest concern is that perpetrators are going to be given a place of free rein, they’re going to have places online where they can operate and identify, groom and abuse children where they aren’t going to be caught. And there’s nobody that can see what’s happening to step in and identify vulnerable children and prevent them being harmed.”
Miss McDonald said she continues to be affected by her ordeal, nearly two decades on.
“There are images of my sexual abuse when I was 13, they exist. I don’t know where they are, I don’t know who’s seen them, I don’t know if they are online. I can’t control them, and I never will be able to control them,” she said. Join the conversation
“And knowing that tech companies have means to detect known child sexual abuse images and remove them is a comfort.”
She praised Facebook for “doing really good work” in reporting child sex abuse material, but warned the company faces taking “backwards steps” and “closing their eyes to abuse” if it introduces end-to-end encryption. She added: “Every time an image is viewed, the child that is in that image is re-victimised and re-traumatised.
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