Justin Bieber impersonator incidents: a disturbing trend

Recently a Brisbane based law professor was charged with over 900 child sex offences allegedly committed over a decade. Posing as Justin Bieber, he used multiple social media accounts to contact children. He has been charged with rape, indecent treatment of children, making child exploitation material, using a carriage service to procure a person under 16, and using a carriage service for child pornography material.

In what may be a copycat case, another person claiming to be Justin Bieber contacted an eight year old girl through a music video social media platform, Musical.ly. He allegedly asked her for nude photos and attempted to entice her with the promise of a private video chat.

Fear of children being abducted and sexually abused by predators is not new. In the 1980s, the Safety House Program was a highly visible sign of the societal fear of ‘stranger danger’. Yellow triangles seemed to adorn every second letter box near primary schools, alerting children that the house occupants were self-appointed safe people to go to if they felt threatened by a stranger.

In reality, the risk of a child being abducted by a stranger is very low. One in five Australian children will experience some form of sexual abuse before they turn eighteen. In 90% of those cases, the offender will be known to the child; often a family member, close friend or trusted person working or volunteering with children.

This knowledge has meant schools have moved away from initiatives like the Safety House Program to an increased focus on supporting a child in developing healthy relationships, identifying unhealthy behaviours in the people around them, and assisting them in identifying safe adults in whom they can seek support.

Yet it seems that while our focus has (rightly) been on known abusers living and working with children, we have missed a rapidly increasing threat to children: online predators.

Children are being groomed online from increasingly younger ages. Their experiences can fall into one of the following categories:

• known older person using the internet to groom and/or assault a child;
• known peer using the internet to groom and/or assault a child;
• unknown person using the internet to groom and/or obtain images of a child; or
• unknown person using the internet to groom a child for physical abuse.

Known older person using the internet to groom and/or assault a child

This occurs when a known adult or adolescent uses the internet as part of their abuse. These abusers may take numerous photos and videos of a child. If the child alerts a trusted adult to any ‘warning signs’ about unsafe behaviour, the predator can easily claim that their actions were innocent. If the child does not raise the alarm they may be asked to pose in an increasingly sexual manner.

Known abusers may also watch online pornography with a child as a ‘special, secret’ activity in order to normalise sexual behaviour as part of their grooming process.

Known peer using the internet to groom and/or assault a child

It’s estimated that over a third of childhood sexual abuse is perpetrated by a person under 18 years of age. In recent years there has been an increase in the reporting of peer on peer abuse. The number of student-on-student sexual assaults reported in NSW public schools has almost doubled, from 55 in 2014 to 89 in 2015. This has in part been explained by a culture change leading to children being more able to report, and adults being more responsive to a child’s disclosure. The prevalence and accessibility of adult sexual content has also been flagged as a factor in increased reporting. Whether pornography exposure is causal to peer on peer abuse is unproven. What can be said is that children who abuse and who have been viewing pornography may escalate their abuse in both speed of grooming and violence of offending.

Unknown person using the internet to groom and/or obtain images of a child

One way in which this occurs is when a predator trawls social media and lifts photos from public accounts for sexual gratification. Any photo or video is fair game, whether the child is pictured at the beach, playing the piano, or in a snowsuit, gloves and balaclava.

At the other end of the scale are people who pose as children and use popular social media or gaming platforms to establish a connection with a child. Over time they will lure the child into private chat including video contact where they can obtain footage of the child. They may also bribe, coerce or threaten the child until they send them sexual photos.

Unknown person using the internet to groom a child for physical abuse

This occurs when the person in the above situation attempts to make physical contact with the child. Like all forms of internet grooming, the speed of grooming is of great concern with it being reported that it can take as little as 24 hours for a predator to establish trust and lure the child into meeting secretly.

How can we better support students?

Traditional cyber safety education does a good job of laying basic ground rules for internet safety, but fails to empower students in becoming aware and informed of grooming techniques and how to reach out for help.

The most common refrain we hear from students in years 5 and 6 is that they know sexual content is ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ and that if they see it they will be ‘in trouble’. The majority admit that they would be reluctant to seek help because they believe that their device will be confiscated.

Education which incorporates both sexuality and respectful relationships gives children and young people the language to reach for help, but fails to address the role of the internet in sexual grooming, harassment and assault.

It is tempting to say that because the terms and conditions of most social media platforms insist users be 13 years of age, that it is not the school’s problem to address. The reality is that in the last three years we have seen the number of year 5 and 6 students in Melbourne schools with at least one social media account rise from 60% to 95%. This doesn’t take into account the students who are playing chat enabled games.

Students also need policies explicitly stated. When a year 7 student disclosed that she was subjected to a boy watching pornography on the bus on the way to an excursion, she wasn’t aware it was against the rules and therefore didn’t feel that it would be addressed if she spoke with a teacher.

By year 9, girls are saying that it’s standard for peers at school to be pressuring them for nude photos. Again, they don’t feel as if the issue will be addressed because, unlike physical sexual harassment that happens on school grounds, the school has not made their policies and expectations clear.

If a student was approached by a stranger on the way home from school, in what could be an attempted abduction, would you feel confident that the student would disclose to their parent or teacher? Does the school have clear policies on how to manage such an event?

If a student was approached by a stranger online and asked for photos, video or compromising personal information, could you answer the above questions with the same level of confidence?