Child safety campaigners today warned that WhatsApp’s ‘disappearing messages’ feature could provide a ‘cloak of invisibility’ for paedophiles

Child safety campaigners today warned that WhatsApp’s ‘disappearing messages’ feature could provide a ‘cloak of invisibility’ for 우리카지노사이트 paedophiles.

The Facebook-owned service will soon allow users to set the app to automatically delete their messages a week after being sent.  

WhatsApp said the long-rumoured update, similar to one used by Snapchat, was designed to give users the option to keep conversations ‘lighter and more private’.

But the NSPCC today slammed the new feature, warning that it would help groomers ‘avoid detection and erase evidence’. 

Anna Edmundson, Head of Child Safety Policy at the NSPCC, told MailOnline: ‘Despite its age restriction many under-16s use WhatsApp, and Disappearing Messages could put children at greater risk of harm by providing groomers with yet another tool to avoid detection and erase evidence.

‘Facebook must spell out how they mitigated the effects this feature will have on their, and law enforcement’s ability to combat grooming and child abuse images when efforts are already hampered by the impact encryption has on WhatsApp.’

She added that the upcoming Online Harms Bill should compel social media platforms to ‘consider the implications new features will have on their young users’.   

‘It is crucial that new laws are clear that failure to protect children from avoidable harm will result in substantial financial and criminal sanctions for tech firms and named managers,’ Mr Burrows said. 

John Carr OBE, a former government adviser on online child safety, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘A cloak of invisibility is just what paedophiles want. This is another gift and helping hand to them from big tech, which further imperils children online.’

A spokesperson for 우리카지노쿠폰 WhatsApp told MailOnline the messaging service was built to ‘enable people to report problematic content to us’.  

The company previously said that either user can activate the feature for themselves, 우리카지노사이트 while in group conversations the admin user will have control.

‘We’re starting with seven days because we think it offers peace of mind that conversations aren’t permanent,’ a WhatsApp spokesperson said.