One in eight children in the world has been confronted or unknowingly exposed to images of a sexual nature in the past year, according to a study published on Sunday.
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This study from the Childlight Institute, which is based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, is presented as the first to estimate the global scale of the problem.
Last year, one in eight children in the world (or 302 million young people) were exposed to photos or videos of a sexual nature in a non-consensual way.
This includes taking or sharing images without the young person’s consent or exposing them to pornographic content.
In Western Europe, almost 20% of young people are affected, according to Childlight, an organization dedicated to the safety of children.
Furthermore, 12.5% of children around the world experience unwanted sexual interactions on the Internet.
The research mainly reports sexual messages or cases of requests for sexual acts from adults and other young people.
There is also talk of blackmail with intimate photos and the use of AI to create deepfakes.
According to the study authors, a case is reported every second worldwide.
“This is a global pandemic that has been hidden for too long,” said Paul Stanfield, the president of Childlight, quoted in a press release, who has worked for Interpol and the British Crime Agency, the NCA.
The phenomenon exists “in every country, is growing exponentially and requires a global response,” he adds.
According to Stephen Kavanagh, director at Interpol, the current legislation “struggles to respond to the situation”.
At the end of April, the NCA warned hundreds of thousands of education professionals after a sharp increase in the number of cases of ‘sextortion’ targeting adolescents, victims of blackmail after intimate photos were posted on the internet.
According to this agency, a significant portion of the cases involve adolescent boys aged 14 to 18.
Blackmail can be carried out by organized crime groups based abroad, mainly in West African countries, but also in Southeast Asia, the NCA said.