A record number of British children are reporting being blackmailed over sexual images of themselves, known as sextortion, with young boys accounting for almost all reports in 2025.
The Report Remove helpline, which allows children to self-report nude or sexual imagery of themselves that is circulating on the internet, received 394 claims of sextortion last year, an increase of 23 per cent from the year before.
A staggering 98 per cent of reports involving sexually coerced extortion were made by young boys, primarily aged between 14 and 17.
Hannah Swirsky, the head of policy at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), said: “Victims and survivors of technology-facilitated child sexual abuse have talked about the stigma and the shame that can live with them for a really long time.
“Survivors have spoken about the fear they have that this imagery will continue to circulate, and the lack of control they have once that imagery is out there.”
Ms Swirsky said that the majority of child sexual abuse material the IWF finds is of girls, which is a stark contrast to sextortion reports, which are almost entirely made by boys.
She added it was difficult to say exactly why males were making up the majority of sextortion cases, but believes the data reveals a need for more support and education aimed at helping young boys facing this abuse.
“We’re calling on the government to take more steps, such as with on-device nudity detection and blocking. There are tools which can stop children from sending those images in the first place, if they’ve been groomed or coerced,” she said.
The Report Remove helpline was launched in 2021 and is run by the IWF in collaboration with Childline.
In 2025, the service had 1,894 instances of children and young people reporting nude or sexual imagery of themselves. The charity confirmed the presence of child sexual abuse imagery in 1,175 of these reports, an 83 per cent rise compared to 2024.
More than a third of the reports made involved sextortion, which can often include financial sexual extortion, where a criminal threatens to share sexual imagery online if the victim does not pay them money. It also includes victims being coerced into sending more images of themselves to prevent the criminal from sharing the original content.
The IWF identified 2,963 child sexual abuse images and 509 videos last year.
Childline director Shaun Friel said: “Our counsellors hear from young people who are being blackmailed into sharing videos of themselves, as well as being threatened that their intimate images might be shared with friends, family or their school unless they pay money or send more content. For many, the fear and isolation can feel overwhelming, and they often struggle to tell a trusted adult about what’s happening.
“The rise in contacts to Report Remove about sextortion leaves us with mixed feelings. Obviously, it is worrying to see further evidence of how serious a problem this now is, but at the same time it is positive that there is greater awareness about the service and children are more willing to get in touch and seek help.”
Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: “Child sexual abuse and sextortion are devastating crimes, harming growing numbers of children across the world, and leaving scars that can last a lifetime.
“Too often, fear, embarrassment and shame have tragically driven children to suicide. That reality weighs heavily on me every single day and I will do everything I can to make the online world safer for our children.”
