Sex crimes, committed in the UK via Facebook and Twitter, have quadrupled in the last four years. As per a Mirror investigation, paedophiles are increasingly entering Facebook and Twitter to sexually victimise children. 1642 cases of sexual crimes since 2009 have been reported to the police, with Facebook and Twitter media having enacted a critical role in the commission and aftermath of these crimes. The Mirror investigation of Facebook and Twitter sex crimes divulged that more than 50% of the 1395 victims of all crimes, except rape, were under the age of 16. The number of supposed rapes, involving Twitter and Facebook, increased from 22 in 2009 to 117 in 2012.

As per the detectives, personal data on Twitter and Facebook are being utilised by sexual predators to identify susceptible females and gain their confidence. The Facebook and Twitter sex crime statistics were discharged by 25 police forces across Wales and England.

These statistics divulge that some victims only found out what had been done to them from smirking Facebook messages posted by their victimisers. Professor Andy Phippen, associated with Plymouth University, has surveyed 4000 children and discovered that almost 40% of primary school students are on Facebook.

Under present conditions and terms, no person under 13 is allowed to possess a Facebook account. Those persons, aged 13 to 18, are provided with protection, which restricts the details they can post. But it has been observed that it is not difficult to dodge these rules and restrictions. Facebook is reportedly utilised by millions of British schoolchildren.

In January, new fears were born over the negative effects of Facebook on children after it was divulged that prostitutes have been employing the medium to advertise their sexual services.

One shocking and prominent criminal case, involving Facebook, was the case of the 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall, who was lured to her demise after befriending a stranger on Facebook in 2010. The teen Ashleigh Hall deemed that the stranger was a boy of 16 and arranged a meeting with him on Facebook. But the stranger actually was 36-year-old Peter Chapman. Subsequently, the corpse of Ashleigh Hall was discovered at the side of an isolated country road in Sedgefield, County Durham. The killer Peter Chapman was subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison.