Rise in child abuse online threatens to overwhelm UK police, officers warn

Exclusive: Sheer quantity of abusive material hindering detection while Facebook move to greater encryption is a further blow

The vast, and growing, volume of child abuse material being created and shared online is threatening to overwhelm police efforts to tackle it, senior officers have told the Guardian.

And the situation is likely to worsen, National Crime Agency (NCA) child abuse lead Rob Jones warned, if social media sites such as Facebook press ahead with further encryption of messaging services.