Hunting the Online Sex Predators

James Blake explores how algorithms shape our online experience and investigates whether social media is promoting harmful content. He meets sextortion target Nathan and joins Cheshire Police's consent campaign against online risk. When students flag how harmful and violent content pops up on their socials, James digs deeper.

At UCL, Dr Kaitlyn Regehr explains how her research suggests that one social media algorithm can quadruple misogynistic content in a week.

Baroness Beeban Kidron believes the problem lies with the tech giants and reveals how she discovered we can be just two clicks away from child abuse material.

James meets Arturo Bejar, an ex-Meta executive. He tells James about his research into algorithms and how harm is promoted. He says it would be easy for big tech to increase user safety.

At Marsh Law Firm in the US, James hears about a class action. Attorneys liken their big tech battle to the war against tobacco companies. They say it’s easier to get clips breaching music copyright removed than it is to get child abuse content taken down.

At NCMEC in Washington DC, James meets NCA officer Andy. He learns they get around 100,000 reports of harmful content on social media reported to them every day. He tells James that the toughest cases involve the encrypted live streaming of abuse of under 18s

In the Philippines, James meets an NCA officer who works in a global task force made up of police from countries including the UK, USA, the Philippines and Australia. Shockingly, British men are among the worst in the world for the purchase of live-streamed abuse.

James joins a police raid in the Philippines using intelligence gathered from devices belonging to a British man who has admitted offences against girls aged 9 to 16.