One in 12 children around the world is exposed to online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and experts say the issue is escalating thanks to the rapid development of and easier access to social media.
The researchers said online child sexual exploitation was “an urgent public health issue that is escalating, facilitated by the so-called triple-A engine of accessibility, affordability, and anonymity”.
According to the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline, it received more than 3.2 million reports of suspected child exploitation and abuse images and videos in 2023, a 13 per cent increase compared to 2022, and a 23 per cent lift on the 2021 report numbers.
In the UK, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) released data in November that found online child grooming cases rose by 89 per cent in six years, with 7,000 sexual communication with a child offences recorded by police in the last financial year.
Online child sexual exploitation and abuse can include online grooming or solicitation, unwanted or pressured sexting, exposure to pornography, and sexual extortion.
The new research, a meta-analysis published in The Lancet: Child and Adolescent Health on Tuesday, found image-based abuse and online solicitation were the most prevalent types of abuse, affecting an average of one in eight children. One in 21 were affected by online sexual exploitation, and one in 28 were affected by sexual extortion.
There also appeared to be “no significant difference” in levels of online child sexual exploitation and abuse experienced by boys and girls.
“This finding differs from previous studies, which have highlighted that girls might experience child sexual exploitation and abuse more than boys,” the researchers added.
The team said the fast development of social media and the changing ways that it can be accessed made estimating the full extent of online child abuse “extremely challenging”.
The researchers examined reports in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish, and included 123 studies in the systematic review.
The review found the highest prevalence of reported image and video-based abuse in Central, Eastern and Western Europe, followed by Australasia.
“These data highlight [online child sexual exploitation and abuse] is prevalent in every country where it is measured—pointing to the need for increased legislation and primary prevention efforts to keep children safe,” the researchers said.
“The findings also point to the range of ways in which [it] can occur, with specific implications for improving safety by design and regulation of online environments to ensure they are safe for children.”
Recommended action included educating children, young people, parents, carers and teachers about the risks.
Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, said: “The growing scale of online grooming is deeply alarming. Last year, there were over 7,000 online grooming offences recorded by police in the UK, an 89 per cent increase from when the offence was first introduced in 2017.
“We know that private messaging platforms are frequently exploited by offenders to target young people, because services have failed to put in place the safeguards children need and deserve.
“Online grooming can have a lifelong impact on victims and survivors. That’s why it’s vital that the Online Safety Act is implemented with greater ambition and urgency to address this growing crisis. Ofcom must strengthen its approach to ensure tech companies design their platforms responsibly, focusing on the prevention and detection of harm and abuse.”
