Children Victimized by Social Media-Linked Crimes Down 10.8 Pct

Tokyo, March 13 (Jiji Press)--The number of children under 18 who became victims of crimes through social media use in Japan last year dropped 10.8 pct from the previous year to 1,486, the lowest in the past 10 years, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

Of the total, which decreased for five consecutive years, 414, or the largest group, were victimized by child pornography, such as being forced to send their sexually explicit photos, down 30.1 pct. Children who fell prey to nonconsensual sexual intercourse came to 287 and child victims of nonconsensual indecency totaled 102, both tripling from the previous year, likely due to the revised Penal Code coming into force in July 2023, which clarifies the requirements for punishments.

By type of social media, crimes took place most frequently through Instagram for the first time, at 461 victims, followed by X, formerly Twitter, at 398 victims, and TikTok, at 82 victims.

Children who fell prey to crimes through online games came to 98. In some cases, children were victimized by those with whom they became friends in the process of teaming up to play online games and communicated via in-game voice chats.

The proportion of children victimized through online games among all child victims of social media-linked crimes has increased in recent years, reaching 6.6 pct last year, roughly doubling from 3.1 pct in 2019.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]