Published: Thu 23 Apr 2026
Criminal gangs are reaping huge profits from children’s sexual exploitation as experts warn sites offering “premium access” to online child sexual abuse have doubled in a year.
New data released today (April 23) by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reveals how criminals are now finding it far too easy to make money from the sexual exploitation of children.
The data, published in the IWF’s latest annual report, shows the number of commercial child sexual abuse sites IWF analysts unearthed in 2025 has doubled since 2024 (15,031 commercial child sexual abuse sites in 2025 compared to 7,028 in 2024).
The charity warns organised criminals are taking advantage of “systemic failures” in online security infrastructure.
Commercial websites host a wide range of child sexual abuse imagery which is available for users to buy. The imagery for sale can involve victims of all ages, and can include some of the most severe and extreme forms of sexual abuse.
Some of these sites have been deliberately disguised to appear as non-criminal sites or to look inactive in an attempt to operate on the open web while avoiding detection. Many of these sites accept payment via cryptocurrencies, card payments or money transfer services.
Kerry Smith, Chief Executive of the IWF, said: “It is clear criminals are exploiting systemic failures and are finding it far too easy to reap huge profits from children’s sexual exploitation. At every stage, we need to disrupt this system. It is an industry.
“We need mandatory measures on financial services to proactively detect, take down and report digital payment links for the sale of images and videos of child sexual abuse.
“We also need to see companies which use end-to-end encryption on their services adopt the tried and trusted safety tools which can prevent criminals using these platforms as safe havens to distribute child sexual abuse material.”
Jess Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls, pledged to use the “full power of the British state” to crack down on child sexual abuse.
She said: “These figures are sickening and we will not allow criminal gangs to profit from children’s unimaginable suffering.
“New laws in the Crime and Policing Bill will mean that anyone caught running or moderating these vile websites will face hefty prison sentences and we will not hesitate to go further.
“This government is choosing a side. Tech companies and the financial sector cannot keep turning a blind eye to an online marketplace that facilitates and profits from the sexual exploitation of children.
“We will use the full power of the British state to deliver the biggest crackdown against child abuse, both online and offline, that this country has ever seen.”
But the IWF, which works internationally to find, remove and disrupt the spread of online child sexual abuse imagery, warns these commercial sites are just one of the ways criminals are monetising the sexual exploitation of children and young people.
The number of reports from young people who have been the victim of sexually coerced extortion (or sextortion) has risen 127% compared to 2024.
This is where a criminal threatens to publish nude or sexual imagery of a victim unless they comply with their demands – usually either sending money or more extreme imagery.
In 98% of these reports, the victims were boys. Almost all of these came via the Report Remove helpline – a free confidential service run by the IWF and the NSPCC which allows under 18s in the UK to self-report nude of sexual imagery of themselves which has been spread online.
Criminals are even targeting younger victims, with children as young as 7-10 years old using the anonymous service to self-report sexual extortion. The IWF says the threat facing children, far from diminishing, is becoming far more acute as criminals cast their nets wider.
While boys are at increasing risk of sexual extortion, girls remain the victims in the vast majority of criminal imagery it takes action to remove. In 2025, IWF analysts have seen “packs” of imagery of victims, mainly girls, being sold online as “box sets” of abuse.
The victims appear in humiliating and exploitative scenes, with viewers paying for the most degrading and harmful content.
Criminals collect this content which is branded as “wins” or “leaks”. Analysts even saw perpetrators trying to determine victims’ precise locations so they could be exposed to other internet users.
Chris Sherwood, CEO at the NSPCC, said: “The growing number of commercial child sexual abuse sites uncovered by the Internet Watch Foundation lays bare a severe problem, with malicious criminal gangs profiting off children's pain.
“We know young victims of sexual exploitation are often left defenceless and can face re-traumatisation knowing images of themselves continue to circulate online. This form of abuse demands urgent action.
“Ofcom must use its powers and work with others to spot and disrupt these perpetrators at the source, before they impact more young lives. Equally, tech companies need to utilise existing technology that prevents children from taking, sharing, or receiving nude images.
“Childline’s Report Remove service is here for any young person under 18 who wants to speak to a professional and confidentially report sexual images and videos of themselves. Through the service, the IWF and Childline can help get these images removed and prevent them from being shared in the future.”
Ms Smith added: “Girls are facing cold commodification and increasingly normalised sexual violence, with their abuse being sold on as box sets, while boys are being singled out by criminals who capitalise on feelings of shame and fear to extort money from them.
“Everywhere we look, we see criminals are making money from giving on-demand, premium access to children’s sexual exploitation.
“We need to address power imbalances and misogyny which are exacerbated online. Non-consensual sharing, voyeurism, and AI manipulation strip girls of control over their image, increasing the risk of repeated circulation and re-victimisation. It’s time we, as a society, faced up to how the internet is normalising some of these dangerous and destructive behaviours.”
Read our Annual Data & Insights Report EU press release here.
More under-18s than ever are using Report Remove to self-report nude or sexual imagery of themselves.
More than nine in ten people in the UK say they are concerned at how images and videos of children being sexually abused are shared through end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging services.
