Jess Phillips pushes to block livestreamed child abuse on every UK device

Phillips, who resigned as safeguarding minister in May after complaining of repeated delays to work tackling child sexual abuse, is demanding action on the source of the crime and wants to cut the number of British offenders. Speaking at a policy report launch in Parliament, she said the technology, evidence and public support are already in place and that she wants to work with ministers to extend on-device blocking to child sexual abuse material on every device sold in Britain. The National Crime Agency has flagged the UK as the third biggest market in the world for live-streamed abuse, where children are sexually abused live on camera to order.

The software uses AI to classify known child abuse images inside a device's operating system, blocking material at the moment it is viewed or created, whatever app is in use. Nothing is logged, stored or sent anywhere, and the tech works alongside encryption, according to its backers. Campaigners say keeping the blocking at device level preserves privacy and encryption; civil liberties group Big Brother Watch disputes that claim.

The scale of the problem shows in the data. Three-quarters of child sexual abuse material was not self-generated but likely captured on adult devices, according to 2025 research from the Internet Watch Foundation, which works to eliminate child sexual abuse imagery online. Research from child safety institute Childlight found 1.8 million men in the UK admitted to some form of online sexual offending against children. Communications watchdog Ofcom has found almost as many offenders looking for child sexual abuse on everyday apps on the open web as on the dark web.

Phil Eccles, from the National Crime Agency, said the scale of the problem was at crisis point. He said device-level blocking would cut off at source someone in the UK directing a livestream for a child to be abused. He added that safeguarding children will always supersede the ability to prosecute, but that tech companies must come onboard because police cannot arrest their way out of the problem.

Conservative Lord Nash, who led the campaign for an under-16s social media ban, told the same briefing that by the time police are involved a child has already been abused and the images have gone around the globe. He said the material has to be blocked on the phone itself, before the harm is done, and credited the government for committing to that on children's phones. He urged ministers to extend the commitment to every device sold in Britain, targeted at child sexual abuse material, and to lead the world in doing so.

John Tanagho, from anti-trafficking organisation the International Justice Mission, highlighted how children in poorer countries are being targeted for sexual exploitation, with research showing one in every 100 Filipino children were victims. He said legislation should explicitly limit the scans to child sexual abuse material, with no data shared with the government or private companies. A government spokesperson said it is putting in place the strongest online safety laws in the world, including preparing world-first legislation to make it impossible for children to take, share or view nude images, and giving police powers to keep pace with criminal use of emerging technologies.