Study: Over 300 million children are sexually abused online every year

LONDON: More than 300 million children fall victim to sexual exploitation and abuse online each year, according to the first global estimate of the scale of the problem published on May 27.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found that one in eight children worldwide have been the victim of receiving, sharing and being exposed to sexually oriented images and videos without their consent in the last twelve months.

That’s around 302 million young people, said the university-based Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, which conducted the study.

According to the report, there were a similar number of cases of incitement to sexual harassment, such as unwanted sexting and solicitation of sexual acts by adults and other young people.

The crimes range from so-called sextortion, in which perpetrators demand money from their victims to keep images secret, to the misuse of AI technology to create deepfake videos and images.

The problem is global, but research suggests that the United States is a particularly high-risk area, with one in nine men there admitting to having committed online crimes against children.

“Child abuse materials are so widespread that, on average, cases are reported to regulatory and police organizations every second,” said Childlight CEO Paul Stanfield.

“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,” he added.

The report comes after British police warned last month about criminal gangs in West Africa and Southeast Asia targeting British teenagers in online sextortion scams.

According to non-governmental organizations and police, the number of cases – especially against male teenagers – is increasing rapidly worldwide.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued a warning to hundreds of thousands of teachers, urging them to be aware of the threat their students may face.

The scammers often pose as another young person, make contact via social media and then move to encrypted messaging apps where they ask the victim to share intimate images.

They often make their extortion demands within an hour of being contacted and are motivated to extort as much money as possible rather than to obtain sexual gratification, the NCA said. – AFP