LONDON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- A British child sex abuse protection expert said predators have "almost industrialized" their abuses using social media sites like Facebook.
Peter Davies, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center, told British lawmakers about half of all child sex abuses now occurs online and many take place using social media sites where children are exposed to predators the world over, not just in their communities. He said foreign predators are "harvesting" victims online, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
"It is not uncommon to encounter situations where offenders in one country will target and harvest victims in a completely different part of the world."
Davies said though sites like Facebook could do more to prevent abuse it isn't the medium's fault -- it's the predators who are to blame.
"It is important to realize that the medium is not to blame, the medium might be managed better, so it is safer for its users," he said. "But what is to blame is human behavior, albeit through the Internet amplified, multiplied and in some cases almost industrialized to a quite remarkable degree."
