One in four children face online sexual exploitation and abuse

One in four children can expect to face unwanted or pressured sexual interactions online, according to a new report from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, hosted by the University of Edinburgh.

The most comprehensive study of abuse facilitated by technology estimates that around 27% of children are subjected to “online solicitation”. This is a range of such interactions, including grooming, that can occur via mobile phones or the internet and can lead to the exchange of intimate photos and videos.

Childlight, hosted by the University of Edinburgh, says more boys than girls are affected by this type of sexual abuse, with 19% of males and 38.6% of females experiencing this problem before turning 18. In the past year alone, it is estimated to have affected nearly 7% of children – 7.4% of girls and 5.3% of boys.

The institute’s latest research also finds:
• Nearly 1 in 10 children can expect to face sexual extortion, a form of blackmail that involves threatening to share intimate images or videos online
• Over 1,500 people found to possess so-called ‘paedophile manuals’ on how to abuse and evade justice circulating in over 60 countries
• A rise in detection of self-generated abuse content, which can relate to grooming, deception or extortion by offenders

Childlight has previously estimated that over 300 million children experienced at least one type of online sexual exploitation and abuse in the past year. It also recently contributed to a report indicating that in 2024 alone, more than 130 million children experienced offline, or contact, sexual violence.

Launching its Into the Light Data Update report today at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, it calls on governments to recognise child sexual abuse as an urgent public health priority, with health ministers given a central prevention role. It also calls on governments to properly count the problem and put greater efforts into prevention.

Professor Debi Fry (pictured), Childlight’s Global Director of Data who led the project, said: “The harms of childhood sexual abuse are not fleeting. For many victims they include trauma, anxiety, depression and self-harm that can last long into adulthood.

“Evidence indicates that it is a greater contributor to ill health among girls and women than widely recognised risk factors such as smoking, harmful alcohol use or lack of physical activity. Among boys it is a greater factor than poor diet. So this is a worldwide health emergency – but it is preventable.”

Health systems can help prevent harm by building support into everyday care – giving parents guidance on child development, checking in on wellbeing and offering help early through trusted services families already use.

Stronger regulation, effective education, smart legislation and technology designed with safety at its core can also help reduce and prevent harm.

Childlight’s report highlights how the threat is evolving, with technology, including artificial intelligence, opening new pathways for abuse. It also explains how criminal networks profit from the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. Children can be groomed online, manipulated and coerced into producing images of themselves, only to be blackmailed and exploited.

Rhiannon-Faye McDonald was abused at the age of 13 after being approached online by a perpetrator posing as a teenager. Soon afterwards he turned up at her home and abused her in person. Today she campaigns for better online safety through the Marie Collins Foundation.
She said: “These findings reflect what we see every day in our work with victims and survivors of technology-assisted child sexual abuse. The scale is deeply concerning, and the impacts are real and long-lasting.

“Framing this as a public health issue is essential. Health systems have a critical role to play in recognising harm early, responding appropriately and preventing further trauma – but that depends on children being identified and treated as victims within those systems. Without that recognition, opportunities for early support and prevention are too often missed.”

Childlight’s global report draws from representative population surveys, analysing 147 studies conducted across 60 countries. It found that reported past year prevalence of online solicitation of children was highest in East and Southern Africa (9.7%), Latin America and the Caribbean (7.6%), and Western Europe (7.4%).

Past year prevalence for other regions was: East Asia and Pacific (6.8%), South Asia (6.5%), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (5.2%), North America (4.1%).

In Western Europe it is estimated that 37.4% of children can face this form of abuse before the age of 18, followed by 29.9% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 29.1% in East Asia and Pacific, and 12.9% in North America.

This is one of the first studies to include global data on so-called ‘paedophile manuals’ or guidance materials for abusers on how to access and harm children and obtain child abuse material – and evade justice. These range from handbooks to information shared on social media platforms.

Data provided by Child Rescue Coalition, which tracks possession of such materials, shows 1,548 cases of devices containing these in 2023 and 2024, across 61 countries. This included 19 countries in Western Europe, 11 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 10 in East Asia and Pacific, 9 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and 9 in Middle East and North Africa.

Among Childlight’s recommendations are legislation to make the creation, possession and dissemination of ‘paedophile manuals’ illegal as part of a comprehensive legislative response to technology-facilitated child abuse. It also calls for legal loopholes around AI-generated abuse material to be closed, comprehensive data collection and more investment in hotlines and reporting tools to safeguard children and ensure rapid removal of online abuse material.