<\/p>\n
The report, released on September 3, 2026, found that nearly 60% of reported cases occurred on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More than 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, while nine million were asked to engage in sexual conversations or share sexual images against their will.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A further four million children had sexual images of themselves shared without consent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNICEF said the figures were likely to underestimate the scale of the problem.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the findings highlighted the risks children face in digital spaces used for learning, entertainment and communication.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The report found that 38% of children first encountered perpetrators online, while 57% of exploitation cases involved perpetrators known to the children, including peers, friends and family members.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Online games accounted for 14% of reported cases, with researchers warning that features allowing perpetrators to conceal identities can facilitate exploitation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The impact on children included fear, shame, confusion, isolation and loss of trust.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Children who experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation were four times more likely to report suicidal thoughts or behaviours or self-harm, while anxiety levels were also significantly higher.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Pakistan, the risk of self-harm among children who experienced exploitation was reported to be more than seven times higher.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The report also highlighted significant barriers to reporting abuse. More than 40% of cases were never disclosed to anyone, while fewer than 1% were reported to authorities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNICEF said children frequently did not know who to approach for assistance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russell called for governments, technology companies and wider society to strengthen measures protecting children online.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UNICEF is urging technology companies to introduce stronger child-safety protections and improve reporting mechanisms.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Governments are also being urged to strengthen accountability and enforcement, while societies should address harmful gender norms that contribute to the sexualisation of girls and stigma against survivors of sexual violence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43481,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-44540","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"About 20 million children aged between 12 and 17 across 21 countries have experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation, according to a new report by the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF).","published_date":"","news_description":"About 20 million children aged between 12 and 17 across 21 countries have experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation, according to a new report by the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF).","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44541,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44540\/revisions\/44541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}