In October 2022, child protection expert Prof Alexis Jay finished a seven-year inquiry into the countless ways children had been sexually abused in England and Wales. She had presided over hundreds of days of evidence in which victims described their treatment and those who had the duty to protect them answered for their failings.

In October 2022, the seven-year-long Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) warned that the government must act urgently on a “national epidemic” of child sex abuse.

I was a researcher at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). My colleagues and I received and analysed the experiences of more than 6,000 survivors of child sexual abuse. Here is what I wish Musk understood before intervening.