There were over 1.1 million attempts to access websites known to harbour child sexual abuse material in New Zealand last year, according to data released by the Department of Internal Affairs.

The DIA’s child exploitation team conducted 47 investigations into child sexual exploitation in 2023 resulting in 15 prosecutions, 209 devices seized and over 1 million websites blocked.

-Over one million websites were blocked by the Department of Internal Affairs in 2023 for harbouring child sexual abuse material.

-DIA spokesman Tim Houston is “extremely worried” by the volume of material being shared.

-Data shows a 283 per cent increase in online abuse material reported in 2021 to 2023 compared to 2018 to 2020.

Close to 3 million pieces of material were discovered including “horrific” images of child sexual abuse and other objectionable content.

Spokesman Tim Houston says the volume of child sexual abuse material being shared is extremely worrying.

“The content we are seizing and prosecuting against is not innocent pictures of children, it is serious and abhorrent sexual abuse of children,” he says.

“It contains situations and acts that no human being should see or know exist, let alone have to experience and then have distributed online for the despicable satisfaction of online offenders.”

The investigations resulted in 35 children safeguarded from harm and 414 child victims identified.

There have been 1,149,570 attempts to access websites known to harbour child sexual abuse material were blocked by an internet filtering system.

“The strong partnerships we have with other agencies in NZ Police, Customs and Oranga Tamariki has been critical in taking children out of potentially harmful environments,” Tim says.

“If you are seeking out this material, please reach out for the help and support that is available, otherwise you will be found, stopped and held accountable.”

DIA worked with NZ Police, Customs and Ministry of Justice in 2023 to develop a support package for non-offending partners and family members impacted by a child sexual exploitation investigation.

“The work the team has done this year has been extremely important in combating the ongoing increase of child sexual abuse material in New Zealand and globally,” Tim says.

“It has made a remarkable difference for New Zealand children, but it can’t stop here.”

Online child sexual exploitation is increasing in New Zealand, with the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children recording a 283 per cent rise in reports of material in 2021 to 2023 compared to 2018 to 2020.

Tim says evolving technology was presenting new challenges including “disturbingly realistic” AI-generated abuse material.

“AI generated content is becoming easier to create, which normalises and encourages the physical abuse of children,” he says.

“It takes significant resource and time to determine whether a child is AI-generated or not and takes our investigators away from identifying real-world children who are at risk.”

He also raises concerns about more platforms using End-to-End Encryption, a security method that keeps communications secure which reduces the ability to detect illegal activity occurring.

“As this becomes more prevalent, a lot of child exploitation will go unreported and offenders will increasingly operate with impunity,” Tim says.

- Stuff/ Ripu Bhatia