A global study has exposed the staggering scale of online sexual exploitation and abuse, affecting over 300 million children annually. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that 12.6% of the world’s children experienced nonconsensual sharing and exposure to sexual content in the past year, impacting around 302 million young people. Similarly, 12.5% of children faced online solicitation, which includes unwanted sexual talk, sexting, and requests for sexual acts. Offenses also involve “sextortion” and the misuse of AI deepfake technology. The study highlights the US as a particularly high-risk area, with one in nine men (nearly 14 million) admitting to online offenses against children.
