LONDON 17 Sep (ANA) - A boy aged nine was sexually assaulted after contact on Tinder, while a girl aged 12 was raped by a man she met on a dating app.

 

In the United Kingdom, UK, the home secretary has said she is appalled by the revelation that children, one of them six years old, have been sexually groomed or assaulted after contact with adults on over-18 dating sites.

 

Priti Patel's comments come in response to a Sky News investigation which revealed more than 70 young people circumvented age verification processes to access popular apps like Grindr and Tinder.

 

Ms Patel, who has confirmed an additional £30m to tackle online exploitation, said dating companies must do more to keep children off their sites.

 

According to the official police documents, the youngest victim was just six - a boy in the Durham Constabulary area who was sexually groomed after contact on gay dating app Grindr.

 

The home secretary said: "I think this is just absolutely appalling, I really do... what we are seeing are young children now being preyed upon by people, by predators with obviously the wrong motives and the wrong motivation, we must do more. We must do more.

 

"That means the technology companies themselves have to step up and I think this is more than just age verification, we need standards from technology companies, they need to absolutely make sure that young people are not just falling through age verification systems and processes, we've got to protect them.

 

"I think it is the responsibility, as technology evolves, for the companies to do much more and to do something else, which is to work with the law enforcement agencies, our police officers and even the government as well.

 

"To work with us to make sure that the protections are put in place, no child should be subject to abuse or become a victim of some of the most appalling sexual abuse and sexual crimes through something like a dating app or technology."(ANA)

FA/ANA/17 September 2019------