More than 300 million children fall victim to sexual exploitation on the Internet every year

JAKARTA – Recent research shows that more than 300 million children are victims of sexual exploitation and harassment online each year. In the first global estimate of the scale of this crisis, researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that one in eight children worldwide, or 12.6 percent, were victims of talking, sharing and being exposed to sexually explicit images and videos last year. In total, that’s around 302 million young people.

In addition, it is estimated that 12.5 percent of children worldwide (300 million) have experienced unwanted sexual solicitations online, such as unwanted sexual conversations that could include sexting without consent, unwanted sexual questions, and requests for sexual acts from adults or other teens.

This breach can also take the form of “extortion,” where perpetrators demand money from their victims to keep images secret, or in the form of misuse of deepfake AI technology. Although this problem exists worldwide, research shows that the United States is a very high-risk region.

The university’s Childlight initiative aims to understand the prevalence of child abuse, including a new global index called Into The Light, which found that one in nine men in the US (nearly 14 million) admit to abusing children online.

According to the survey, seven percent of men in the United Kingdom (1.8 million) admitted the same, while in Australia the figure was 7.5 percent.

The research also found that many men would admit to attempting to sexually abuse children if they believed it would be kept secret.

“The scale is very surprising, in England alone the number of male perpetrators can form lines stretching from Glasgow to London or fill Wembley Stadium 20 times. Child abuse material is so widespread that on average files are received by regulatory organisations and the police once a 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, evolving exponentially and requires a global response. We must act immediately and treat it as a preventable public health problem. The children cannot wait,” he said.

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

“This is not a harmless image, it is very harmful, and the harassment continues with every call and failure to remove this harassing content,” Fry said.

“Exploitation and online harassment are real and present threats to children around the world, and traditional law enforcement approaches struggle to keep up with developments,” said Stephen Kavanagh, Executive Director of Interpol.

“We need to do more together at a global level, including through dedicated training for investigators, better data sharing and the provision of equipment, to combat this pandemic and the loss of millions of young lives around the world,” he said.

Frida, whose name has been changed, is a victim of child abuse and sexual exploitation online. Between the ages of 13 and 18, she was attacked on social media by a man in his 30s.

“It’s a very lonely experience. I feel ashamed and like I’ve done something wrong. Childlight’s figures show that I’m not alone in my experience, but that every day more and more children are abused and exploited online,” said Frida, who lives under a pseudonym.

“Our current understanding of harassment is often limited to what technology platforms are willing to share and does not take into account the reality of online exploitation,” he said.

“To understand and prevent losses, we need to consider ambitious regulations to hold this platform accountable and ensure that regulators are able to work with the millions of people who are affected by this danger every year,” he added.

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

“Child sexual abuse is a global public health crisis, exacerbated by increasingly advanced technologies that enable the instant production and distribution of child-exploiting material without restrictions, as well as being accessible to children online without regulation,” Tame said.

“Central global research data is essential to protecting children. Child sexual abusers often use narratives and knowledge to deceive, commit abuses and evade justice. Childlight will limit their options by giving power back to other communities,” he said.

“Protecting children and young people from sexual harassment and exploitation is very important to the Scottish Government and we are working with key partners to improve our knowledge and response to this very worrying issue,” said Scottish Children and Young People Minister Natalie Don.

“This is a global problem that requires a global solution and I welcome Childlight’s important work in using data from around the world to develop concrete actions to protect children,” he said.

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