UNICEF warns that nearly 20 million children faced online sexual abuse in one year

Saturday 05 September 2026 - 11:05

By: Azzat Manal

UNICEF warns that nearly 20 million children faced online sexual abuse in one year

Nearly 20 million children who use the internet across 21 countries were subjected to sexual exploitation or abuse online over a single year, according to a new report released by UNICEF, highlighting the growing risks children face in digital environments.

The United Nations children's agency estimates that more than one in five internet users aged between 12 and 17 in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe experienced at least one form of sexual abuse or exploitation online during the year preceding the survey.

The report found that approximately 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content. Around nine million were pressured into sexual conversations or asked to share sexual images, while intimate images involving an estimated four million children were shared without their consent.

UNICEF warned that the figures captured by the study represent only part of the global problem and that the actual number of children affected worldwide is likely to reach tens of millions.

Described by UNICEF as one of the largest studies of its kind, the research draws on surveys conducted between 2020 and 2025 involving around 21,000 child internet users across 21 countries.

Social media platforms accounted for approximately 60% of reported cases, with Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok among the services most frequently identified. A further 14% of reported incidents occurred in online gaming environments.

Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said that the surveys largely reflected conditions from 2020, before the company introduced several of the child-safety measures recommended by UNICEF. These include automatically applying private settings to minors' accounts and restricting adults from contacting teenagers with whom they have no connection.

A Meta spokesperson also stressed that WhatsApp is designed as a private messaging service rather than a social media platform. The company said it would continue working to combat child exploitation across its applications and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in pursuing offenders.

The UNICEF report also highlighted an emerging threat linked to artificial intelligence. In nine of the countries included in the research, an estimated 1.1 million children reported that sexually explicit images or videos generated using AI had been created to depict them.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned that such experiences can cause serious emotional and psychological harm, while many children remain silent because they do not know where to seek support.

The organization is calling on governments and technology companies to strengthen safety measures on digital platforms, update legislation to address new forms of abuse—including AI-generated sexual content—and improve systems for protecting children and reporting online exploitation.

The findings underline the growing challenge of keeping children safe in an increasingly digital world, where advances in technology can create new opportunities for abuse alongside the benefits of online connectivity.