UNICEF reports 20 million children faced online sexual abuse in 21 countries over one year

An estimated 20 million children in 21 countries were subjected to sexual exploitation or abuse on digital platforms in a single year, with most cases occurring on social media, UNICEF said in a report released Thursday. The agency's estimates are based on surveys of roughly 21,000 internet-using children, ages 12 to 17, conducted between 2020 and 2025 in 21 countries including Kenya, Pakistan, Brazil and Serbia. Across the surveyed countries, more than one in five children reported encountering at least one form of online abuse or exploitation in the year preceding the survey, with most cases in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The report found that around 15 million children encountered unwanted sexual content, 9 million faced attempts to coerce them into sexual conversations or image-sharing, and 4 million had sexual images of themselves shared without consent. Nearly 60 percent of reported abuse cases occurred on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, while 14 percent took place during online gaming. In more than half of cases, the perpetrator was someone the child already knew; in 38 percent of cases, the child and offender met online. Fewer than one percent of incidents were reported to police or helplines. Data from nine countries showed that about 1.1 million children appeared in AI-generated sexual images or videos, and children who experienced technology-facilitated sexual abuse reported suicidal thoughts or self-harm at roughly four times the rate of those who did not. A Meta spokesperson said the surveys relied on data collected in 2020 and that the company had since adopted measures recommended by UNICEF, adding that WhatsApp is a private messaging service rather than a social media platform. TikTok said it had introduced restrictions for young users and automatically hides accounts held by minors. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the experiences caused severe emotional and psychological harm, and called on governments and technology companies to update laws and strengthen protection systems in response to emerging forms of abuse, including AI-generated content.