Sex offenders will have to reveal dating app use under new plans

Convicted sex offenders will be forced to notify police with the details of any dating app or social media accounts they use or face up to five years in jail, under plans announced by Shabana Mahmood.

- Rajeev Syal Alexandra Topping

In a move intended to help curb the explosion in targeted attacks using websites, the home secretary said “the full power of the state” would be used to bear down on online abusers.

There were 70,052 registered sex offenders living in England and Wales at the end of March 2024 - equivalent to one offender for every 763 people aged 10 and over.

Nearly one in five victims of sexual offences committed by strangers are targeted online, according to National Crime Agency statistics.

Police have previously had no way of tracking the activities of known sex offenders online.

Keir Starmer is tomorrow planning to announce the government’s full strategy to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, after criticism over delays in publishing it.

Under the regulations outlined by Mahmood, registered sex offenders would be required to inform the police if they opened new social media and dating app accounts or if they started a new job.