Current status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 27 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential psychological trauma that they might cause, whether it will treat online sexual offences with the same seriousness as similar activity offline.
Scottish legislation relating to sexual offences is used to prosecute both online and offline harm, including grooming, sexual communication, making or sharing indecent imagery or sexual exploitation. It is an operational police matter to investigate alleged offences and for independent prosecutors to decide what action to take upon receiving reports of crimes being committed. In cases that are prosecuted, it is for the independent court to sentence upon conviction within the legal framework.