Sick paedophile gangs are trying to convince children to commit suicide, self-harm and engage in depraved sex acts online.

Perverts are taking innocent pictures or clips of children from social media accounts and using AI to convert them into abuse videos.

And they are trading tips with each other in huge social media groups to generate horrific videos, with cases becoming more graphic and violent.

In some horrendous cases, gangs have forced children to carve the group name into their skin, with officers now seeing wounds “it’s hard to imagine how it’s possible to survive”.

Abuse is also broadcast live to tens of thousands of people at once.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Monday morning vowed to make Britain the first country in the World where children cannot take or share nude videos.

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir must go much further and ban children from social media sites such as TikTok, Facebook, X and Snapchat.

She said: “I think the move today is an idea without a proper plan behind it.

“I don’t want to see children being able to send nudes, but I don’t know exactly how the government is looking at this.

“A much simpler way of dealing with these things is getting children off social media rather than piecemeal measures that are tackling the problems issue by issue.

“We’ve got to go much further than that.”

Asked whether she would back a ban on social media that goes up to the age of 18, she said: “I think that 16 is an appropriate age for children to start using social media.”

Some “Com” groups – networks of offenders – are using “Satanic” artwork and threatening “real-world” consequences if children refuse to carry out their sick requests.

Schoolchildren have been encouraged to commit suicide, while others are being told to brand themselves with the paedophile group’s username.

Perverts will trick children into swapping intimate images before blackmailing them, controlling them and then selling the pictures and videos to other gangs.

Offenders have “distinct” roles, with some tasked with finding and “recruiting” schoolgirls while others “market” to fiends across the world.

The gangs often have members in countries such as Indonesia, America, Australia and Europe.

And investigators fear Silicon Valley tech giants are failing to protect children.

The Government wants firms such as Apple and Google to activate built-in features on their devices or come up with technological solutions on phones and tablets to detect and block such content.

It means all adults will need to verify their age if they want to take or view nude images.

Firms must implement changes or face new legislation, which could lead to fines, and as a last resort, criminal liability for tech bosses.

The changes will apply to both existing and newly sold smartphones and tablets in the UK.

Around 91 per cent of online child sex abuse is self-generated by children groomed, tricked and exploited by predators, according to the Home Office.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “One issue is the ability for children with phones to send and receive nude images.

“For too long, people have been told that it is simply the price of modern tech, that nothing can be done, that Government is powerless, that parents just have to accept it.

“I reject that completely, because tech should adapt to the needs of society, not the other way around.”

He added: “That is why today I am calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images.

“Because this is not an impossible challenge. These are some of the most innovative companies in the world and I believe they can solve it.

“But if they choose not to, then we will act and we will change the law because when it comes to the safety of our children, standing by is not an option.”

But Labour faced accusations they effectively want "spyware" to be installed on every phone.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood dismissed this, adding: "I make no apologies for doing the right thing to protect children from paedophiles. This is about stopping the coercion and sextortion of children, not surveilling or policing people’s phones.

"This technology is already on devices. The tech firms just need to switch it on to block children from seeing nude imagery.

"There is no reporting, no data collection, no monitoring, and no images leaving the device. All adults will be able to switch off the protections if they are over 18.

"This is targeted, proportionate and - most importantly - it protects children from vile abusers."