Child safety experts warn of global surge in 'sadistic online exploitation' of teenagers
Predators are using social media platforms and online games to coerce vulnerable children into producing sexual images and videos of themselves. The phenomenon is growing fast, and parents need to know what it looks like.
Key points
- Child safety experts and law enforcement agencies globally report a sharp rise in 'sadistic online exploitation' of children over the past year.
- Predators target vulnerable teenagers on social media platforms and online gaming apps, then pressure them into producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), meaning explicit images or videos of themselves.
- In the most extreme recorded cases, victims have been coerced into self-harm or attempting suicide.
- Helplines exist in the US, UK, and Australia for children, parents, and adult survivors of childhood abuse.
Criminals are targeting children on the apps and games teenagers use every day, and parents and carers have few obvious places to look.
Child safety experts and law enforcement officials around the world are warning of a sharp rise in what researchers call 'sadistic online exploitation': adults who deliberately target vulnerable young people and pressure them into producing sexual images or videos of themselves.
The material is categorised as child sexual abuse material, or CSAM. Producing, possessing, or distributing it is a criminal offence in most countries.
How does this exploitation actually work?
The predator typically begins by posing as a peer or a friendly stranger on a social media platform or an online game. Once a degree of trust is established, the coercion starts. A common threat runs something like: 'Do this, or I'll share what you've already sent with your school friends.' Some predators appear to derive satisfaction from the harm itself, which is why experts use the word 'sadistic' to describe the pattern.
In documented extreme cases, children have been coerced into self-harm or attempting suicide.
The Guardian first reported the global scope of the trend, drawing on child safety organisations and law enforcement briefings across multiple continents.
No single platform is responsible. Investigators have flagged mainstream social media apps alongside gaming platforms, so parents cannot simply block one service and consider the risk managed. Our report on 15 July found that Australia's online safety watchdog identified serious gaps in how Apple, Meta, Google and others handle exploitation and sextortion complaints, even as reports keep climbing.
If your child is being targeted, or has been, please use the contacts below.
In the US: call or text the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline on 800-422-4453. Adult survivors can find support at ascasupport.org.
In the UK: children can call the NSPCC on 0800 1111. Adults concerned about a child can call 0808 800 5000. Adult survivors can contact the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) on 0808 801 0331.
In Australia: children and young people can call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831. Adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380.
A wider directory of helplines is available through Child Helplines International.
What parents and carers can do right now
Talk to children about what manipulation looks like online. Be specific: 'Someone might ask you to do something on camera and then threaten to share it.' Children are more likely to disclose if they know the adult won't blame them. Keep communication open rather than threatening to remove devices, which tends to push the problem out of sight rather than out of reach.
