Published: Fri 9 Oct 2026
Record numbers of British under 18s are facing online ‘sextortion’ according to new data, as experts say there is no time to lose bringing in nudity blocking technology on children’s devices
New data published today (October 9) shows a dramatic leap in reports of young people in the UK contacting the UK’s Report Remove helpline having become victims of sexually coerced extortion – often known as ‘sextortion’.
Criminals try to extort or blackmail their victims by threatening to publish nude or sexual imagery of them online unless they hand over money or comply with other demands.
According to analysts at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) which, along with Childline, runs the Report Remove helpline, a lot of the imagery used to coerce under 18s has been taken by the young person themselves.
This usually takes place using a phone or other camera-enabled device, in response to coercion or trickery from a criminal online.
The accompanying threats and intimidation can be extreme, and young people have even been driven to taking their own lives as a result.
Today’s data shows:
By the end of June 2026, 462 Report Remove reports involving sextortion had been confirmed as containing child sexual abuse imagery.
This number is 17% higher than the total number of confirmed sextortion reports dealt with in the whole of 2025 (394).
Of the 462 reports confirmed so far this year, 441 (95%) involved boys exclusively.
Report Remove was set up in 2021. In 2022, it received 19 reports relating to sextortion. This rose to 164 in 2023. In 2024, 151 reports relating to sextortion came through Report Remove, rising to 394 reports in 2025.
Kerry Smith, Chief Executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, said on-device controls on children’s devices which would block the sending or receiving of nude imagery could have a huge impact stopping criminals from obtaining compromising imagery in the first place.
In September, Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, Secretary of State for Digital, told the Commons the Government is working with haste and collaborating with Google and Apple to make this happen and would be bringing forward legislation to require major tech platforms to build in device-level protections for children and for apps that children use to prevent them from accessing or sharing nudity
Ms Smith welcomed the commitment, but urged Government to move swiftly to ensure further harms are prevented.
Ms Smith said: “These figures show the horrors facing young people online are not going away. They show a consistently worsening picture – and a trajectory which, if it continues, will only wreak more havoc, hurt, and harm on young lives.
“But as always, the numbers cannot tell the whole story. And behind each one of those reports is a desperate child or young person. Behind each child and young person is a family. And these numbers are only the tip of the iceberg. We’ll never know the true scale – or how many do not get the help they need.
“This is why it is so important that the new Government does not take its foot off the pedal with online safety. We welcome the commitment to introducing nudity blocking technology on children's devices – but there really is no time to lose. Every day that passes, criminals are still casting their nets wide, trying to lure thousands of children into harmful, potentially lethal, traps.”
The IWF also says the Prime Minister’s new Vision for Young People, which aims to improve young people’s experiences with mental health, education, and employment, must also address problems young people are facing online such as the rising threat of sexual extortion.
Head of Child Safety Online at the NSPCC, Rani Govender, said: "When a young person is sexually extorted, it can be devastating for them and their families. And these figures make it clear that more children will continue to fall victim to this horrific crime if platforms fail to act with urgency.
"With the Government's promise last month to introduce legislation making nudity-blocking technology compulsory on children's devices, tech companies must now to use the resources at their fingertips and make the changes.
"Without swift action from tech companies and the Government, this abuse will only get worse. There is no excuse for inaction."
Report Remove is a free, confidential helpline run by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the NSPCC’s Childline.
It allows under 18s in the UK to self-report suspected nude or sexual imagery of themselves which has been shared, or risks being shared, online. The imagery can then be blocked and removed.
Crucially, this can be done pre-pre-emptively, before criminals have had a chance to put imagery on the open web. This means Report Remove is a crucial tool for neutralising criminal’s threats and giving young people facing sextortion control over their images.
Under-18s in the UK can self-report suspected nude or sexual imagery of themselves via Report Remove.
If the imagery meets the legal threshold to be considered child sexual abuse, the IWF will work to have the imagery removed from the internet. They can also work to pre-emptively block the sharing of criminal imagery before it can be put on the internet.
New data shows a concerning rise in the number of AI-generated child sexual abuse images identified in the first half of this year, with girls featuring most often.
As EU negotiations on the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation resume in Brussels, the Internet Watch Foundation places a choice before the public and policymakers – to either push for legislation that protects children online or make it easier for child sexual abuse content to spread.
