Better Internet for Kids

There are different types of sexual extortion, and it appears that different groups of young people are targeted by them, although it is important to be clear that any type of sexual extortion can affect anyone, young or old. Trends indicate that boys and young men are often targeted and asked for money under the threat of images being shared (sometimes referred to as financially motivated sexual extortion (FMSE)), whereas girls and young women tend to be asked to share more images. To provide some additional context, the Dutch helpline recently published its 2024 Annual Report which includes data on the prevalence of sexual extortion by gender. 

A typical example of sexual extortion would be that a victim will receive a friend request, typically on a popular social media platform (but this could take place in any online space where it is possible to communicate). Once the friend request is accepted, the victim will receive explicit images from the new account and will be asked to reciprocate and send images back. Many young victims have stated that they shared images because they genuinely believed they were communicating with someone of a similar age who liked them and wanted to start a relationship. As soon as the images are shared, however, the blackmail will start. The victim will typically be told that they must pay a certain amount of money or share further images by a given deadline, otherwise the images they have already sent will be shared more widely, often with family members or friends at school or work. 

The impact of sexual extortion can be devastating, with victims often feeling helpless and unable to speak to anyone about it. Threats often include elements of time pressure (“Respond within two hours or I’ll ruin your life…”), further adding to the victims' stress, and making it harder to seek help. Victims may also feel that it is their own fault and that they are to blame for sharing the images in the first place. This is not the case; sexual extortion is a crime, and numerous sources of help and support are available. 

As part of its work, the European Commission co-funds a European network of Safer Internet Centres – in Member States and beyond – to inform, advise and assist children, parents, caregivers, and teachers on a range of digital issues, including fighting against online child sexual abuse in all its forms. Safer Internet Centres provide services through various channels, including awareness centres, helplines, hotlines and youth participation actions. Issues linked to sexual extortion are regularly cited by Safer Internet Centres as an ongoing and growing problem. 

In addition, the Digital Services Act (DSA) includes several provisions to make the online environment safer and protect the fundamental rights of users. In particular, the Commission has recently published guidelines on the protection of minors, to help providers of online platforms ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security to children on their service, as per Article 28 of the DSA. The guidelines include standards for default settings that will help to tackle risks stemming from unwanted sexual contact, conduct or content, including, among many others: 

• preventing unknown accounts from contacting children;
• hiding children’s personal information, data and social media content from accounts they are not connected with;
• removing child accounts from connection suggestion lists;
• disabling geolocation, microphone and camera by default to reduce the risk of children being found offline by predators;
• prohibiting accounts from being able to download or screenshot content posted by minors to prevent the unwanted spread of sexualised or intimate content, as well as the rise of sexual extortion.

The Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence obliges Member States to criminalise non-consensual sharing of intimate or manipulated material, which includes threatening to share intimate material in order to coerce a person to do, acquiesce to or refrain from a certain act (Article 5). The Directive further obliges Member States to provide support for victims of cybercrimes and to adopt preventive measures against cybercrimes, including through the promotion of digital literacy skills. 

The scale of the issue 

In addition to providing direct support to users and those who care for them, helplines within the Safer Internet Centre network regularly collect statistics on contacts to their services to monitor trends and identify emerging or growing issues. Indeed, helpline contacts classified under the topic of ‘online sexual coercion and extortion of children’ now typically account for between seven and eight per cent of contacts received by the helplines. To provide further context, in Q2 of 2025 (April-June), of the total of just over 15,000 helpline contacts, 1,522 related to sexual extortion, making it the second most common topic helplines currently deal with, only surpassed by cyberbullying. 

These trends are further illustrated through national findings. For example: 

• In a study, data from Child Focus (Belgium), 75% of sexual extortion victims were boys, and this specific form of abuse represented 38.6% of all sexual exploitation cases handled in 2023 in Belgium. Despite this, boys often remain less likely to seek help, hindered by shame, stigma, and the misconception that sexual extortion primarily affects girls.
• The annual report from Save the Children (Denmark) found that the share of youth threatened or blackmailed online grew from 6% in 2021 to 10% in 2024.
• An article from the helpline in Malta outlines the rise in sexual extortion, while highlighting the importance of reporting.
• Research from the Netherlands examines the methods and impacts of financial sexual extortion in young boys.  

Further information on helpline trends is regularly shared on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) portal. 

Prevention and education through resources and awareness raising 

Prevention and education are crucial, and the Insafe network of Safer Internet Centres has produced many resources which help to educate children and young people about the risks and how to respond if they become a victim of sexual extortion. Some examples follow: 

Austria

• A factsheet on deepfakes and sexualised violence, including the latest trends in financially motivated sexual extortion (FMSE) cases which involve the use of AI-generated deepfake content.
• A resource outlining a workshop for young people, designed for working directly with youth. It aims to teach workshop participants how to protect themselves from online sexual harassment in a practical setting. 

Belgium

• Sextoooh is an online educational platform on sexting and gender stereotypes, for professionals who work with young people. The platform provides interactive and fun methods to explore how gender stereotypical behaviour or stereotypical expectations play a role in views and responses to sexting.
• An information card for young people, explaining some of the sexual harassment and exploitation situations which can occur, signpost young people to Child Focus for help.
• An article from Child Focus outlines sources of support for parents of children who are victims of sextortion. 

Germany

• The checklist for families on sexual harassment online offers an introduction to the topic of cybergrooming and sexual harassment online. Families can use the checklist to discuss warning signs, trusted individuals, and protective measures to prevent abuse. 

Greece

• An infographic on understanding sextortion provides a general overview of sextortion and ways to respond to it. 

Ireland

• The Be in Ctrl resource, created in partnership with An Garda Síochána, seeks to inform school leaders and teachers about the online sexual coercion and extortion of children and how a school can address this issue, in collaboration with parents. The resource contains three lesson plans to support schools as they address the issue in the context of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) programme. 

Luxembourg

• A video resource, Cybersecurity lifehacks – sextortion, focuses on crucial aspects to minimise the risks of sexual extortion, such as the importance of pre-verifying the identity of strangers and methods to do so, understanding when and why to block contacts, actions to take if you've been a victim of sexual extortion, and guidance on supporting someone targeted by sexual extortion. The video was released as part of an awareness-raising campaign titled “Keep your space safe”. 

Malta

• A back-to-school resource, titled Stop sending nudes, shares essential messages about online safety, specifically addressing the risks associated with sharing intimate photos with strangers.
• The Maltese Safer Internet Centre has also shared an alert on social media to combat the growing threat from sexual extortion.

The Netherlands

• The Dutch helpline has created a lesson plan on sextortion targeted at young people from 10 to 18 years of age.
• The online resource, titled Sextortion escape room suitcase game, invites players to solve problems to prevent the characters from becoming victims. It is aimed at users aged 12 to 21.
• A podcast on sextortion explores the dark side of social media through four episodes. Experts and victims explain sexual extortion and discuss true crime cases to illustrate criminal patterns.
• A storyboard resource to explain sextortion, doxing and exposing.
• A series of explainer videos explores different issues, including sextortion, doxing, and non-consensual receipt of images.
• A customisable stop letter template for victims to send to a person who is threatening to share their nude images. 

Portugal

• An online romance scams booklet explores one of the more recent forms of cybercrime. Romance scams occur when someone impersonates another person online, creating an emotional connection, then using this personal relationship to deceive the other person and obtain money, personal information, or other benefits. 

Sweden

• A report titled “It’s seen as a hack” focuses on children's experiences and attitudes towards so-called ‘sugar-dating’, where adults exploit children for the purchase of sexual services. The report makes it clear that the child's perspective is both crucial and necessary when designing support interventions. 

These, and many other resources on a range of online safety topics, can be accessed in the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) resource directory. Various filters are provided to help visitors search and identify useful resources, such as by resource type, language, topic, country, and keywords. 

Other useful tools include: 

• Better Internet for Kids (BIK) learning corner module for teachers and educators on sextortion. Various learning modules are provided for parents and carers also.
• Hosted by the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children but available internationally, the Take It Down tool allows children and young people (up to the age of 18) to give any explicit image a digital fingerprint. This means that the image cannot be subsequently shared on some of the major social media platforms, as some companies will scan images against a database of images containing illegal or explicit content.
• Similarly, hosted by the UK-based Revenge Porn Helpline, the free Stop NCII tool is designed to support victims of non-consensual intimate image (NCII) abuse. It can be used to remove images and prevent them from being re-shared. 

Accessing further support 

National Safer Internet Centres can provide support on a range of online issues, including harmful content, harmful contact (such as grooming), harmful behaviour (such as cyberbullying or sexting), or contract issues (where a child/young person is an online consumer). Safer Internet Centre services are free, and can be accessed by phone, email or chat (methods may vary by country). A summary of the help provided is available in national languages here. 

Relevant legislative initiatives  

Work on protecting children from sexual abuse falls under the remit of the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) at the European Commission. Find more information on the remit of DG HOME here. 

In May 2022, the Commission proposed a Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, including the production and dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and the grooming of children. These rules would require online service providers to, first and foremost, prevent child sexual abuse on their platforms. If needed, providers may be mandated to detect, remove and report all forms of child sexual abuse material and grooming on their platforms, including in cases of sexual extortion. A new agency, the EU Centre to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, would also assist victims in removing their intimate images from the internet. 

In February 2024, the Commission proposed to update the EU criminal law framework on child sexual abuse by publishing a revision of the 2011 Directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material. The revised rules clearly flag the rapid growth of the phenomenon of financially motivated sexual extortion, with the aim of ensuring it is appropriately covered in Member States’ law. 

The two proposals are currently under negotiation with the European Parliament and the Council.