🔴 AI Abuse & Sextortion Fuel Record Surge in Online Child Exploitation, Warns Watchdog

Child sex abuse imagery online reached record levels in 2024, according to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), with over 291,000 reports of illegal content linked to threats such as AI-generated abuse, sextortion, and revenge porn.

The IWF warns that children—particularly girls—face an “escalating crisis” of exploitation online. In 97% of cases where victim sex was recorded, the abuse depicted girls.

As part of the response, the IWF has launched Image Intercept, a free tool for small websites to detect and block known criminal imagery using a 2.8 million-strong hash database.

The move follows the introduction of the Online Safety Act, which began to take effect last month and requires platforms to meet stricter safety obligations set by Ofcom.

🔹 “New threats like AI and sexually coerced extortion are only making things more dangerous,” said IWF chief Derek Ray-Hill.

🔹 Technology Secretary Peter Kyle called the scale of online abuse “shocking”, adding that the Government will prosecute those using AI tools to produce or distribute illicit imagery.

📢 The IWF is urging all online platforms to join the initiative and help create a safer internet for children.