A Stockport MP has called for an urgent statement from the government after a schoolgirl was groomed by a secret porn network on Spotify.
An M.E.N investigation revealed the 11-year-old, from Reddish, was able to upload several explicit pictures of herself to the music streaming platform before her parents found out.
The girl's mother claimed her daughter was encouraged to create her own playlists, where other Spotify users could edit the title to enable them to message each other. Users can then upload a "custom" picture to the cover of the playlist.
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Her daughter was sent an email from one user who she'd met on Spotify who claimed to be a 12-year-old boy, who asked her to send a video of her pleasuring herself. Another user named "I have nudes" tagged her in a playlist with a message asking her to "show a good view" of her genital area.
The harrowing case has now been brought to the attention of the family's MP, Andrew Gwynne, who raised the issue in parliament on Thursday (January 12), as he called for an urgent response from the relevant government minister.
The MP for Denton and Reddish said: "Can we have an urgent statement from either the Home Secretary or Culture Secretary about the shifting focus of online harms to platforms that possible fall outside the scope of the bill before parliament.
"I’ve been contacted by the parents of an 11-year-old who was effectively groomed on the Spotify platform whereby fake accounts and playlists are being created by groomers and then communicating with children to encourage them to send explicit photographs of themselves.
"Thankfully this was spotted by her parents who are appalled but what can we do and can we get that statement to ensure Spotify and other platforms can’t be abused by groomers."
The Government's Online Safety Bill, which has been hit by numerous delays, is set to be passed this year and promises to strengthen protection for children from harmful online content.
It was due to finish its Commons stages in July but was scrapped to hold a confidence vote in the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. The bill has since been re-written following a row among Conservative MPs about freedom of speech online.
As a result, measures which would have forced big tech firms to take down legal but harmful material have been axed from the bill - a move criticised by campaigners and the Labour party.
Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt confirmed she would raise the Spotify case with the Secretary of State, understood to be the Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan.
"For both governments and parents I’m afraid this is all about continuing to be vigilant and having to adapt what we know to protect our households," she said.
"But also the government is always going to have to be advancing and adapting the tools we have. I will raise this matter with the Secretary of State and ask her team get in touch with the hon. Gentleman’s office."
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed they have launched an investigation, following reports that a child had been incited to post indecent images on a music streaming site.
Speaking to the M.E.N, Mr Gwynne said he was 'absolutely heartbroken' to hear of the family's story and said he would demanding to know what action the government will be taking to clamp down on this kind of abuse.
"Online platforms have a responsibility to protect their users, and it is the role of the Government to make sure that there is a strong legislative framework to ensure compliance," he said.
A spokesperson for Spotify said they 'take the safety of minors on our platform extremely seriously' and had removed the exploitative content, and terminated the user in question.
But Mr Gwynne has called for the streaming site to go further, and promised to write to Spotify to find out what is being done to protect the safety of children.
"I will also be writing to Spotify and asking them what steps they will be taking to ensure that children are protected on their platform," he told the M.E.N.
"I am particularly concerned at reports that this explicit and illegal material had to be reported on multiple occasions before it was removed. If that is the case, that is totally unacceptable, and Spotify must address this problem immediately. I have contacted the family in question, and will continue to update them with conversations I have with the Government and Spotify."
The M.E.N has seen numerous playlists on the music streaming service with titles changed by users who have tagged other profiles, and asked them to upload indecent pictures.
In one playlist, the name has been been changed to 'important message to all porn posters' and warns users about an American YouTube channel uncovering the 'secret porn community on Spotify.' When the M.E.N did a search of words such as "nudes" and "porn" on the platform, various profiles and playlists with explicit pictures of female body parts appeared.
A Spotify spokesperson said: "Spotify takes the safety of minors on our platform extremely seriously, and we do not allow content that promotes, solicits, or facilitates child sexual abuse or exploitation.
"We have processes and technology in place that allow us to detect and remove any such exploitative material. In this case, we found the imagery in question, terminated the user, and removed the content."
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