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Thousands of vulnerable children are targeted through social networking sites, deputy children's commissioner warns Report says it is 'rare' for abuse cases not to involve technology including mobile phones and computers Labour calls for Facebook to be grilled by Parliament

By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor

PUBLISHED: 05:04 EST, 21 November 2012 | UPDATED: 11:58 EST, 21 November 2012

Gangs of child abusers use Facebook and other social networking sites to trawl menus of potential victims and plan sickening sex parties, a devastating report warns today.

Naive young people are wandering round in the thicket of the internet, which plays a central role in grooming and planning abuse.

Sue Berelowitz, deputy childrens commissioner for England, claimed groups of men use menus of girls and warned that it was rare to find abuse cases where technology such as mobile phones and computers were not in some way connected.

The interim report by the deputy children's commissioner Sue Berelowitz warned Facebook is used by gangs to arrange 'sex parties' where children are abused

This includes encouraging girls to swap sexually explicit images on mobiles, adults grooming children on social networking sites such as Facebook, and the viewing of extreme or violent pornography and discussing it during sexual assaults.

Children groomed online are taken to parties, where they are drugged or plied with alcohol so that they did not know what was happening to them, the study found.

This made it impossible for them to identify the perpetrators.

Excerpt from:
How Facebook and social networking sites are used by child abuse gangs to groom victims for 'sex parties'