UNICEF estimates 20 million children faced online sexual abuse, including in Pakistan

GENEVA: About 20 million internet-using children across 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 on Thursday.

More than one in five children aged 12 to 17 surveyed across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe experienced at least one form of sexual abuse or exploitation online in the year before they were surveyed, according to the UN children’s charity.

The research, described by UNICEF as one of the largest studies of its kind, was based on nationally representative surveys conducted between 2020 and 2025 among about 21,000 internet-using children in 21 countries, including Pakistan, Kenya, Brazil and Serbia.

Roughly 15 million children in the countries surveyed were exposed to unwanted sexual content, while 9 million were pressured into sexual conversations or sharing sexual images. Another 4 million had sexual images shared without their consent.

UNICEF said the number of children subjected to such abuse globally was certain to run into many tens of millions.

Almost 60% of reported abuse occurred on social media platforms, led by Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, while 14% took place in online gaming, the report found.

A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said the surveys dated as far back as 2020, before the company introduced protections recommended by UNICEF, including defaulting teens into private accounts and preventing adults from messaging teens they are not connected to.

The spokesperson added that Meta defines WhatsApp as a private messaging app rather than a social media platform.

“While the report doesn’t provide any specific evidence of abuse, we’ll continue to fight child exploitation aggressively across our apps and support law enforcement in prosecuting the criminals behind it,” the spokesperson said.

Snapchat pointed Reuters to a blog post by Global Head of Platform Safety Jacqueline Beauchere, who said the company was actively combating online sexual extortion through proactive detection, account removals, user reporting tools and safety features designed to protect vulnerable users.

TikTok said it had built safeguards to protect minors, including restricting certain features for younger users, making accounts for under-18s private by default and using technology to detect potentially predatory behaviour.

The UNICEF report said more than half of cases involved someone the child already knew, including friends, relatives or romantic partners, while 38% of children first encountered the perpetrator online.

Fewer than 1% of cases involving children were reported to police, a social worker or a helpline, according to the research.

The report also highlighted concerns over artificial intelligence. Across nine countries where data was collected, an estimated 1.1 million children reported having AI-generated sexual images or videos created depicting them.

Children who experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation were around four times more likely to report suicidal thoughts or self-harm and reported significantly higher levels of anxiety than their peers, the research said.

“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 in a statement.

UNICEF urged governments and technology companies to strengthen safety measures on digital platforms, update laws to address evolving forms of abuse including AI-generated content, and improve child protection and reporting systems.