Event dossier

Children in UK report online sextortion attempts in record numbers

Exclusive: Call for nudity-detection tech on phones as number of under-18s reporting blackmail attempts rises by 34% • ‘I felt ashamed and scared’: how an online friendship became a sextortion nightmare Children are…

1 report1 sourceApr 7, 2026, 5:00 AM
Back to newsroomRead lead coverage
FilterThe Guardian
Clustered coverageThe Guardian
Coverage timeline1
Coverage timeline

Coverage timeline

Ranked reports inside the event cluster. Open any publisher link to read the original coverage.

The GuardianApr 7, 2026, 5:00 AM

Children in UK report online sextortion attempts in record numbers

Exclusive: Call for nudity-detection tech on phones as number of under-18s reporting blackmail attempts rises by 34% • ‘I felt ashamed and scared’: how an online friendship became a sextortion nightmare Children are reporting online sextortion attempts in record numbers in the UK, as campaigners urge tech companies to do more to stamp out the crime. The Report Remove service, which allows children to flag intimate images or videos of themselves that have appeared, or could appear, online, said it received 394 reports from under-18s last year of blackmail attempts after sending sexual images to predators. The figure is 34% higher than in 2024. Continue reading...

Lead coverageRead lead coverage
Related events

Related events

Nearby clusters pulled from title, summary, and keyword similarity in PostgreSQL.

El Psy Congroo