Sexual predators are grooming children under six into performing “disturbing” acts of sexual abuse via phones or webcams a charity has warned.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said it had discovered more than two thousand remotely filmed child abuse images of three to six-year-olds online in 2023.
Nearly a quarter of UK five-to-seven-year-olds now have their own smartphone, Ofcom research suggests.
Social media use also rose in the age group over last year with nearly two in five using messaging service WhatsApp, despite its minimum age of 13.
The communications regulator warned parental enforcement of rules "appeared to be diminishing."
For 14 hours over the weekend, Sydney university student Ben Cohen was one of the most reviled men on the internet after he was falsely accused of being the knifeman who went on a stabbing rampage in a Sydney shopping centre, killing six people.
The ABC has pieced together how anti-semitic and pro-Kremlin accounts turned Mr Cohen into an internet villain.
Children as young as nine have been added to malicious WhatsApp groups promoting self-harm, sexual violence and racism, a BBC investigation has found.
* Go to WhatsApp Group settings to restrict who can add you to a group.
Sexism is on the rise in schools because of harmful content on children's phones, according to the National Education Union's (NEU) general secretary.
Daniel Kebede said boys watched "aggressive and violent pornography" and influencer content that "completely distorts their view of women".
"Jodie" found images of herself used in deepfake porn - and then faced another terrible shock. She told BBC File on 4 about the moment she realised the person responsible was one of her best friends.
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