20 million kids faced online sexual abuse – Unicef

The report, “Through Children’s Eyes: How Digital Technologies Enable Child Sexual Abuse,” combines children’s testimonies with one of the largest bodies of available survey data to warn of a widespread trend of child sexual abuse and exploitation – both online and offline – enabled by technology.

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MANILA, Philippines — About 20 million children aged 12 to 17 across 21 countries have experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse, according to a new report of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The report, “Through Children’s Eyes: How Digital Technologies Enable Child Sexual Abuse,” combines children’s testimonies with one of the largest bodies of available survey data to warn of a widespread trend of child sexual abuse and exploitation – both online and offline – enabled by technology.

UNICEF said this report combines evidence from two rounds of Disrupting Harm research conducted across 21 countries.

The first round, with data collected primarily in 2020–2021, covered Cambodia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, the Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam.

The second round in 2024-2025 expanded the research to Armenia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Pakistan and Serbia.

The report estimates that over 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, nine million were asked to engage in sexual conversations or share sexual images against their will and four million children had sexual images of themselves shared without their consent.

However, the true scale of the issue is likely far higher due to underreporting by children.

According to the findings, nearly 60 percent of all recorded instances of exploitation occurred on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and WhatsApp, and 14 percent happened on online games, with the platforms’ features often used to exploit trust.

Some 38 percent of children first encountered the perpetrators online and evidence shows abuse is often facilitated through intentional features that allow perpetrators to hide their identities.

Across the 21 countries, 57 percent of exploitation cases involved perpetrators the children knew, including peers, friends and family members.

The report notes that 38 percent of children first encountered the perpetrator online, with evidence showing how abuse is facilitated through fake accounts and private messaging features.

Children who experienced technology-aided sexual exploitation were four times more likely to report suicidal thoughts or behaviors and self-harm and reported significantly higher levels of anxiety.

More than 40 percent of cases of tech-facilitated abuse were never shared with anyone, while fewer than one percent were reported to authorities such as the police, social workers or helplines.

The most common reason children remained silent was not knowing where to go or who to tell.

The researchers issued calls to tech companies to include stronger protections for children and improve their reporting systems.