Parenting site targeted with child sexual abuse images

Parenting site Mumsnet says it has stopped users from sharing pictures after it was targeted with images of child sexual abuse.

Company founder Justine Roberts told the BBC the “horrific incident” had been reported to police after the images were posted on the platform over several hours late on Sunday.

It has now suspended the facility to post pictures on the site as a temporary measure and is planning to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) filters to flag “illegal” and “disturbing” images before they appear.

Some Mumsnet users have raised concerns about the length of time the images were visible and the site’s use of volunteer moderators during overnight hours in the UK.

In a thread on Mumsnet following the incident, one user said it was “time to rethink” the volunteer moderation system following “the truly awful photos… which I will never un-see”.

“The site is big enough and money-making enough to support a better system by now,” the user added.

“There really needs to be proper 24-hour IT cover.”

Ms Roberts defended the use of volunteer moderators overnight, saying they were based overseas in different time zones “so they can easily monitor the site”.

“I don’t believe this horrible incident would have been prevented had it happened in office hours with our usual moderation team in London,” she said.

“The key is to stop this type of horrific thing being posted on our site in the first place and we’re putting all our efforts into preventing that from happening again.”

“Several sets” of child abuse images were posted on Mumsnet between 23:00 GMT on Sunday and 03:00 on Monday, Ms Roberts said.

Most of the images were removed within an hour of being posted and all were taken down by 04:00 on Monday, she added.

Ms Roberts said it was “pretty clear” there was an “ongoing, co-ordinated effort to further inflame the conversation on (the) site around the issue and to cause as much disruption as possible”.

She added that Mumsnet was looking into “further tools” that could help prevent future similar incidents.

The company is due to meet the Metropolitan Police after reporting the incident on Monday, Ms Roberts said. The BBC has contacted the Met for comment.

Ms Roberts said the company was “regularly subject to threats and attacks from people who seem to want to derail the conversation on site”.

“This latest horrific incident feels like another attempt to do the same,” she added.

“Over the years we’ve been swatted [fake calls to the police], attacked by bots and suffered bomb threats amongst other things.

“Right now our team is very focused on preventing any further such horrific images ever appearing on site and helping the police in their attempts to find the person or persons who posted them.”

Ms Roberts said moderators who viewed the images of child abuse have been offered support.

Mumsnet was founded by Ms Roberts in 2000 as an internet forum for parents to swap advice. It says it now has around nine million unique users per month.