'Self-generated' child sexual abuse

Overview
Key trends
7-10-years-old
11-13-years-old
14-15-years-old
16-17-years-old

Overview

2022 was the first year that ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse reports of 7-10-year-olds were more prevalent than 'not self-generated' reports. In some cases, children are groomed, deceived or extorted into producing and sharing a sexual image or video of themselves by someone who is not physically present in the room with the child. Sometimes children are completely unaware they are being recorded and that there is then a image or video of them being shared by abusers.

 

A note on terminology:

We regard the term ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse as an inadequate and potentially misleading term which does not fully encompass the full range of factors often present within this imagery, and which appears to place the blame with the victim themselves. Children are not responsible for their own sexual abuse. Until a better term is found, however, we will continue to use the term ‘self-generated’ as, within the online safety and law enforcement sectors, this is well recognised.

In our charts, and explanations in this section, we have also used the term ‘not self-generated’ to describe images and videos created in the following ways.

  • The abuser was physically present in the room with the victim/s, although not necessarily depicted in the imagery itself.
  • The abuser has created the imagery by either manipulation of an existing image(s), or by creating a partly or fully synthetic image using AI or other artificial techniques.

Trends

Children aged 11-13 continue to appear most frequently in 'self-generated' imagery, as in previous years. We also continued to observe an increase in the proportion of this type of imagery including children aged 7-10 in 2023, up 65% from 2022 (104,282 in 2023 vs 63,057 in 2022).

  • Of the 275,652 webpages actioned during 2023, more than nine in 10 (254,071 or 92%) were assessed as containing ‘self-generated’ imagery.
    • This is a 14 percentage point proportional increase on 2022 when 78% of actioned reports (or 199,363) were ‘self-generated’.
  • This represents a 27% increase in ‘self-generated’ reports from 2022 to 2023 in terms of the number of actioned webpages.

'Self-generated' content of boys

‘Self-generated’ images of boys accounted for 56% (3,504 of all boys’ child sexual abuse images in 2022, while in 2023 this dropped to 41% (1,320).

Percentage of actioned content that was 'self-generated' by sex and year

 

The above chart shows the percentage of actioned reports of each sex that was 'self-generated'.

Key trends

  • In 2023, 141,137 reports which included 'self-generated' imagery included an 11–13-year-old girl.
    • This represents 51% of all actioned reports and 55% of ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse reports

 

We’ve been monitoring a continuing increase in this imagery featuring 7–10-year-olds (girls and boys).

  • In 2023, 104,282 ‘self-generated’ reports featured a 7–10-year-old, which is a 65% increase on 2022.
    • This is an increase of 1,816% since 2019 when 5,443 reports of ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse of this age group were found.
  • In 2023, 103,082 reports which included ‘self-generated’ imagery included a 7–10-year-old girl. This is a 67% increase on 2022.
    • This represents 37% of all actioned reports and 41% of ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse reports.

 

Total number of actioned reports: 'self-generated' vs 'not self-generated' 

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*Please note that ‘not self-generated’ describes images and videos created in the following ways.

  • The abuser was physically present in the room with the victim/s, although not necessarily depicted in the imagery itself.
  • The abuser has created the imagery by either manipulation of an existing image(s), or by creating a partly or fully synthetic image using AI or other artificial techniques.

As reports could have one, or, usually, many child sexual abuse images and videos, if any of those images or videos depicts ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse, then we will tag the report to show as such. This may mean some reports are exclusively showing content of a 'self-generated' nature. Others may show a mix of both.

The number of 'self-generated' reports by age

This chart shows the total number of reports which included ‘self-generated’ content split by age of the child depicted.

 

Age Group Sex Number of reports % of total number of reports % of total number of reports per age group
Unidentified age group Unidentified sex 3,337 1% 100%
  Total 3,337 1% 100%
7-10 Girls 103,082 41% 99%
  Boys 277 0% 0%
  Both 921 0% 1%
  Unidentified 2 0% 0%
  Total 104,282 41% 100%
11-13 Girls 141,137 56% 99%
  Boys 510 0% 0%
  Both 273 0% 0%
  Total 141,920 56% 100%
14-15 Girls 3,148 1% 89%
  Boys 278 0% 8%
  Both 127 0% 4%
  Unidentified 1 0% 0%
  Total 3,554 1% 100%
16-17 Girls 751 0% 77%
  Boys 221 0% 23%
  Both 6 0% 1%
  Total 978 0% 100%
Grand Total   254,071 100%  

 

This table provides a detailed breakdown of the reports which include ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse material by sex and age.

 

Unidentified: This very small group relates to reports where the age group is recorded as under 7-years-old. When assessing a URL containing one or many images, our analysts record the age of the youngest child that can be seen. ‘Self-generated’ is a separate tag that is applied to reflect that 'self-generated’ imagery has also been seen on the URL but this does not always directly correlate to the individual age recorded on the report.  For example, a report where 0-2 is recorded as the youngest age, may also show another or many other ‘self-generated’ images of older children.

'Self-generated' - overview by severity

  • Category A - 54,250 (21%): Images involving penetrative sexual activity; images involving sexual activity with animals or sadism.
  • Category B - 58,105 (23%): Images involving non-penetrative sexual activity.
  • Category C - 141,716 (56%): Other indecent images not falling within categories A or B.

'Self-generated' - overview by sex

7-10-years-old

Pre-pubescent children

2022 was the first year that ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse reports of 7-10-year-olds were more prevalent than 'not self-generated' content. This trend has continued into 2023.

7-10-year-olds - types of abuse

  • Self-generated - 104,282 (92%)
  • Not self-generated - 8,458 (8%)

Hover or click chart segments for values.

The chart above shows the proportion of reports showing ‘self-generated’ vs ‘not self-generated’ child sexual abuse featuring 7-10-year-olds.

 

7-10-year-olds - severity of abuse

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*Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number

The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs ‘not self-generated’ child sexual abuse featuring 7-10-year-olds, broken down further by category. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or ‘not self-generated’.

 

 7-10-year-olds - sex of victims

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The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs ‘not self-generated’ child sexual abuse featuring 7-10-year-olds, broken down further by sex. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or ‘not self-generated’.

 

11-13-years-old

Older Children

11-13-year-olds - types of abuse

  • Self-generated - 141,920 (96%)
  • Not self-generated - 5,390 (4%)

Hover or click chart segments for values.

The chart above shows the proportion of reports showing ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 11-13-year-olds.

 

11-13-year-olds - severity of abuse

 

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The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 11-13-year-olds, broken down further by category. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or 'not self-generated'.

 

11-13-year-olds - sex of victims

 

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*Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number.

The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 11-13-year-olds, broken down further by sex. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or 'not self-generated'.

14-15-years-old

Teenagers

14-15-year-olds - types of abuse

  • Self-generated - 3,554 (88%)
  • Not self-generated - 502 (12%)

Hover or click chart segments for values.

The chart above shows the proportion of reports showing ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 14-15-year-olds.

 

14-15-year-olds - severity of abuse

 

Rotate your device

*Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number

The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 14-15-year-olds, broken down further by category. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or 'not self-generated'.

 

14-15-year-olds - sex of victims

 

Rotate your device

*Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number

The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 14-15-year-olds, broken down further by sex. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or 'not self-generated'.

16-17-years-old

Teenagers

16-17-year-olds - types of abuse

  • Self-generated - 978 (81%)
  • Not self-generated - 224 (19%)

Hover or click chart segments for values.

The chart above shows the proportion of reports showing ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 16-17-year-olds.

 

16-17-year-olds - severity of abuse

 

Rotate your device

The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 16-17-year-olds, broken down further by category. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or 'not self-generated'.

 

16-17-year-olds - sex of victims

 

Rotate your device

The chart above shows the numbers of reports depicting ‘self-generated’ vs 'not self-generated' child sexual abuse featuring 16-17-year-olds, broken down further by sex. The percentages are a percentage of ‘self-generated’ or 'not self-generated'.