An investigation by Sky News' partner network NBC News found dozens of prosecutions for child abuse in the US involving messaging on Discord, including one where a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped and another in which a teenage girl was raped after months of grooming.

Child exploitation taking place on popular chat platform Discord is "horrifying", the company's chief executive has said.

Jason Citron said any cases of child sexual abuse material, grooming, or abduction linked to the service, which he founded back in 2015, would be taken "very seriously".

Mr Citron said Discord employed a dedicated child safety team, tasked with trying to prevent abuse "in a way that respects the privacy of all the people who are not doing these things".

He was responding to an investigation by Sky News' partner network, NBC News, which revealed dozens of prosecutions for child abuse in the US involving communications on the platform.

It included at least 35 child abduction, grooming or exploitation prosecutions, and 165 involving abuse material. One case saw a man kidnap a 12-year-old girl after meeting her in a video game via Discord, while another saw a teenage girl taken across state lines and raped after months of being groomed.

NBC News also identified hundreds of active Discord servers, which are the communities making up the platform, promoting child exploitation.

What is Discord?

Many gamers use Discord to communicate while playing online.

Its popularity exploded during the pandemic and it now hosts many servers unrelated to gaming, whether for chats among friends or for official sources to post news. The UK Treasury even opened its own server last year, where announcements from the government and chancellor are posted.