The IWF and NSPCC say tech platforms must do more to protect children online as confirmed sextortion cases soar.
The Internet Watch Foundation and the NSPCC have won an award that recognises the vital service that the Report Remove tool offers children in the UK.
Child protection analysts have seen a significant rise in reports from children accessing the world-leading Report Remove service run by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the NSPCC’s Childline service.
Childline and the IWF launch new tool to help young people remove nude images that have been shared online
Charities warn threat of sexual extortion (or sextortion) against children ‘not diminishing’ as new data show sextortion cases soar 72% in a year.
IWF and NSPCC's Report Remove can support a young person in reporting sexual images shared online and enables them to get the image removed if it is illegal.
Explore the impact of our Report Remove service in the 2025 Annual Data & Insights Report. We analyse the volume of reports and successful removals.
Report Remove is a joint tool by IWF and Childline that helps young people report and remove intimate images shared online without consent.
The latest data from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reveals a record rise in UK children reporting online sexual extortion, with the Report Remove service now handling an average of nine cases a week. In 2025, the helpline saw a 66% increase in self-reports from under‑18s, confirming 1,175 cases involving harmful imagery — more than a third linked to sexually coerced extortion. Criminals are increasingly exploiting young people’s nude imagery to demand money, further content, or compliance, often using aggressive threats and personal information to create fear and control. Report Remove, run by the IWF in partnership with Childline, allows young people to block or remove nude images of themselves from the internet — even before they are shared. The majority of sextortion cases involved boys aged 14–17, highlighting a growing trend in targeted online abuse. Childline counsellors continue to support children facing blackmail, fear, and isolation. The service remains free, confidential, and available to any young person worried about their imagery being shared online.
Explore trends in child-led reporting in our 2025 Annual Data & Insights Report. We analyse how young people access support and report illegal content online.
More sextortion reports have been confirmed in the first six months of 2026 than in the whole of 2025, with boys targeted in 95% of cases. The IWF says there is no time to lose bringing in nudity blocking technology on children’s devices.
The IWF’s ‘Think Before You Share’ campaign, created with agency Consider, has been named Communications Campaign of the Year at the 2026 Third Sector Awards and won Gold for Behaviour Change Campaign of the Year at the 2026 Global Good Awards. The campaign helped drive a 77% rise in young people using Report Remove to get nude images taken down.