More than 300 million children are sexually abused on the Internet every year, according to a study

Sign up for our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox

Sign up for our free IndyTech newsletter

Studies show that more than 300 million children fall victim to sexual exploitation and abuse on the Internet each year.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have estimated the extent of the crisis worldwide for the first time. They found that one in eight children (12.6 percent) were victims of conversations, sharing and exposure to sexually oriented images and videos without their consent last year. That equates to around 302 million young people.

In addition, an estimated 12.5% ​​of children worldwide (300 million) were victims of online solicitation last year, such as unwanted sexual conversations (including non-consensual sexting), unwanted sexual questions and unwanted requests for sexual acts by adults or other young people.

Crimes can also take the form of “sextortion,” where perpetrators demand money from their victims to keep images secret, or the misuse of AI deepfake technology.

While problems exist in all parts of the world, research suggests that the United States is an area of ​​particularly high risk.

The university’s Childlight initiative – which aims to understand the prevalence of child abuse – includes a new global index called Into The Light, which found that one in nine men in the US (nearly 14 million) admitted to having committed online crimes against children.

Surveys found that 7% of British men (ie 1.8 million) admitted this, as did 7.5% of men in Australia.

The investigation also found that many men admitted they would attempt to commit sexual assault on children if they believed it would remain secret.

Paul Stanfield, chief executive of Childlight, said: “This has reached a frightening level. In the UK alone, this would mean a queue of male offenders stretching from Glasgow to London – or filling Wembley Stadium twenty times over.”

“Child abuse materials are so widespread that cases are reported to regulators and police authorities on average once per second.

“This is a global health pandemic that has remained hidden for far too long. It is occurring in every country, it is spreading exponentially and it requires a global response.

“We need to act urgently and treat it as a public health problem that can be prevented. The children cannot wait.”

Debi Fry, professor of international child protection at the university, said the problem affects children “in every classroom, in every school, in every country”.

She added: “These are not harmless images, they are deeply harmful and the abuse continues with each view, even if this offensive content is not removed.”

Stephen Kavanagh, Executive Director of Interpol, said: “Online exploitation and abuse pose a clear and present danger to the world’s children, and traditional law enforcement approaches can hardly keep up.

“We need to do much more together at a global level, including through training of specialised investigators, better data sharing and better equipment, to effectively combat this pandemic and the harm it is causing to millions of young people around the world.”

Frida, whose name has been changed, is a survivor of online child sexual abuse and exploitation who was targeted on social media between the ages of 13 and 18 by a man in his 30s.

She said: “It was a deeply isolating experience. I felt ashamed and like I had done something wrong.

“Childlight’s figures not only show that I am not alone in my experiences, but that every day more and more children are experiencing horrific abuse and exploitation online.

“Currently, our understanding of abuse is often limited to what technology platforms reveal, rather than the reality of online exploitation.

“To understand and prevent the harm, we need ambitious regulations to hold these platforms accountable, and we need to ensure that regulators are able to work with the millions of people who are affected by this harm every year.”

Grace Tame, another survivor, runs the Grace Tame Foundation, which works to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.

She said: “Child sexual abuse is a global public health crisis that is steadily worsening due to advancing technologies that enable the instant production and limitless dissemination of child exploitation material, as well as unregulated access to children online.

“A centralised global research database is essential to protecting children. Narratives and knowledge are often weaponised by sexual predators to harass, abuse and evade justice.

“Childlight will limit their options by restoring power to the rest of the community.”

Scottish Minister for Children and Young People Natalie Don said: “Protecting children and young people from sexual abuse and exploitation is a high priority for the Scottish Government. We are working closely with key partners to improve our knowledge of and response to these deeply concerning issues.”

“These are global problems that require global solutions, and I welcome Childlight’s much-needed work to use global data to develop concrete actions to protect children.”