Hong Kong authorities recorded 40 cases of online sexual grooming targeting minors in the first four months of this year, the city’s security chief has said, while the government is considering a legal overhaul.
Security Secretary Chris Tang said on Wednesday that the police recorded 100 such cases in 2025, while a total of 2,156 cases of child sexual abuse were recorded during the last three years.
Since last year, the police force has started to count the figures related to online child sexual grooming, the minister said in a written response to questions from lawmaker Elizabeth Quat.
Online child sexual grooming refers to cases where adults befriend children online, usually through social media, online games or messaging apps, to sexually abuse them.
The government also intends to propose legislative changes to the city’s sexual offenses laws this year, Tang said.
“The exercise aims to review and improve Hong Kong’s sexual offense laws in a comprehensive manner, which includes increasing legal protection for children,” Tang said, without elaborating.
The proposals will be based on two reports published by the Law Reform Commission in 2019 and 2022, which outlined a series of recommendations to improve the city’s laws on sexual offences, he said.
Authorities plan to consult lawmakers and the public on the proposals in the second half of this year and hope to complete legislative changes by the end of June next year, when the current administration’s term ends, he added.
A new set of recommendations for minors on the appropriate use of electronic devices and social media is expected to be ready this year, Tang said.
The Advisory Group on the Health Effects of Screen and Social Media Use for Children and Adolescents, established in October, is reviewing scientific evidence and overseas experience and engaging with experts on the issue.
Updated health recommendations are expected to come out this year, he added.
Tang pledged that the Hong Kong police will continue to fight crimes related to child sexual abuse material online through cooperation with other jurisdictions.
Last month, the force arrested nine men in a joint operation with law enforcement in six other jurisdictions targeting child sexual abuse material online.
At a press conference last month, police psychologist Michael Fung warned of the spread of online sex grooming of minors, citing a survey conducted by the force and two universities in the city.
The survey said 15 percent of respondents admitted to consuming child sexual abuse material online, Fung said, but added that the figure represented only the “tip of the iceberg.”
