About 20 million children who use the internet across 21 countries experienced sexual exploitation or abuse on digital platforms in a single year, according to a new report by UNICEF.
The UN children’s agency said more than one in five children aged 12 to 17 surveyed in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe experienced at least one form of sexual abuse or exploitation online during the year before they were surveyed.
The report, released on Thursday, found that social media platforms accounted for almost 60 per cent of reported cases, with Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok among the platforms where the abuse occurred.
UNICEF said about 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, while nine million were pressured into sexual conversations or to share sexual images. Another four million had sexual images shared without their consent.
The agency warned that the true global figure is likely to be much higher, with the number of children affected worldwide expected to run into many tens of millions.
The research was based on nationally representative surveys conducted between 2020 and 2025 involving about 21,000 internet-using children across 21 countries, including Kenya, Pakistan, Brazil and Serbia.
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UNICEF said more than half of the cases involved someone the child already knew, including friends, relatives or romantic partners, while 38 per cent of children said they first encountered the perpetrator online.
Despite the scale of the problem, fewer than one per cent of cases involving children were reported to the police, social workers or helplines, according to the report.
The report also raised concerns about the growing use of artificial intelligence to create sexual content involving children. In nine countries where data was collected, about 1.1 million children reported that AI-generated sexual images or videos had been created depicting them.
UNICEF said children who experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation were about four times more likely to report suicidal thoughts or self-harm and also reported significantly higher levels of anxiety than children who had not experienced such abuse.
“These experiences cause profound emotional and mental distress. Many children suffer in silence, unsure where to turn for help,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.
The agency called on governments and technology companies to strengthen protections for children online, improve reporting systems and update laws to address new forms of abuse, including sexual content created with artificial intelligence.
UNICEF also urged digital platforms to introduce stronger safety measures to prevent children from being targeted and to make it easier for victims to report abuse and obtain support.
Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said the surveys used in the report dated back as far as 2020, before it introduced some of the child-safety measures recommended by UNICEF.
Snapchat and TikTok also pointed to safety measures they have introduced to protect younger users and combat online sexual exploitation.
About the Author
Cecilia Attah is a tech analyst with a degree from Benue State University. She covers tech news and startups at TechRegard with a focus on how technology is transforming Africa and shaping the global landscape.
