The wait for updated online safety laws has been marked by tens of thousands of online grooming crimes being recorded.
Campaigners are calling on tech companies and MPs to support the Online Safety Bill and are demanding that progress not be delayed any longer.
The bill that seeks to address illegal content has been subjected to recurrent postponements and revisions.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NPSCC) has declared that since first requesting for more severe laws in 2017, 34,000 online grooming convictions have been documented by UK police services.
The proposed new rules would enable tech companies to gain access to the content of private messages if there is a need to safeguard the welfare of a child.
Apps that are widely used offer a form of encrypted messaging, which guarantees that only the sender and recipient can gain access to the information contained in the message, with no possibility of tech companies being able to view it.
Everybody is able to take advantage of these privacy functions; platforms also claim to provide enhanced protection to domestic abuse survivors, reporters, and political activists, among others.
They argue that constructing a backdoor would lead to a decrease in security for everyone utilizing their services.
Aoife (aged 22 and from East Kilbride) experienced exploitation via two popular messaging applications when she was 15 by an adult male who had been masquerading as a teenager.
The man manipulated her into sending him pictures of herself and used them to threaten her in order to dictate her actions.
Aoife mustered the courage to tell her mother and teachers when the demands of the situation became overwhelming and frightening, which then led to them informing the police.
Aoife recounted to BBC News feeling petrified, saying that it was around two in the morning when she realized she had gotten herself in a lot of trouble. At that moment, all she wanted was her mother, but knew she couldn't tell her.
I was petrified. I had the feeling that I was isolated from everybody else in that moment.
She expressed her emotions of guilt because no one else understood her predicament, in addition to being frustrated with herself for being an intelligent person.
Following an inquiry by the National Crime Agency in 2022, Aoife's tormentor was sentenced to a prison sentence of 18 years.
He admitted to 65 charges concerning 26 girls and women in the age range of 12 to 22.
Figures from 42 UK police forces provided by the NSPCC show that the number of offences related to sexual communication with a child was at a record high last year, with 6,350 instances recorded.
The data revealed that 5,500 transgressions were reported to have been committed against primary school-aged children, accounting for approximately one quarter of reported victims.
The charity has previously declared that messaging programs are at the "forefront" of the offence.
Recently, ministers have had to defend the Online Safety Bill against backlash from certain tech companies, who argue that the law will weaken encryption measures that ensure the privacy of online communications.
A number of platforms are in danger of departing the UK completely rather than abide by the latest regulations.
Kate Robertson, a senior research associate at the Citizen Lab - an entity dedicated to studying internet security - stated to the BBC that "there should not be any additional breaches in online safety".
She noted that encryption is "vital for safeguarding vulnerable people and protecting privacy in general".
Rani Govender, a senior policy officer at the NSPCC, asserted that there is no need to choose between privacy and safety; she believes it is all about investing in applicable technological solutions that will grant both privacy and safety to every user of these services.
The NSPCC is also requesting guarantees that the laws will apply to emerging technologies, for instance, artificial intelligence (AI).
Susie Hargreaves, the CEO of the Internet Watch Foundation, advocated for the incorporation of robust safety features.
She highlighted that without end-to-end encryption, predators could be prevented from concealing their activities, and thus prevented from inflicting harm on children and destroying their lives.
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