Author: Felipa Schmidt, PhD student, The University of Manchester

*Content warning: this article discusses child sexual abuse. If at any time you find this material too heavy or uncomfortable, please exit the page. If you wish to speak to someone that can offer support, please call the Samaritans on 116 123*

In March 2022, New Zealand law enforcement arrested dozens of people in connection with the possession and sharing of child sexual abuse material. News stories like this have become more common in the last two years. This is partly due to the significant rise in child sexual abuse crime on the internet throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise in cases links to young people spending more time at home and seeking social connections through the internet. This often means that they are more exposed to offenders through various channels, such as gaming and social media. In 2020, 69 million images and videos relating to child sexual exploitation and abuse were referred to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which was a 50% increase from the previous year.

Broadly, online child sexual abuse can be understood as sexual abuse with any online element that occurs to an individual before the age of 18. Although the term includes the word ‘online’, a lot of the abuse also takes place offline. It can be that before connecting with the victim online, the perpetrator knows them offline, or an offline meeting happens after talking online. For this reason, academics and members of civil society have argued for using the term technology-facilitated sexual abuse (TF-CSA) rather than the term online child sexual abuse.

TF-CSA refers to a variety of abuse that can occur online. One example is an adult (or someone of an unknown age) identifying and grooming a potential young person online. This can involve a second form of TF-CSA, which is abuse through the production, dissemination, or possession of child sexual abuse material. In a grooming relationship, this can mean coercing a young person to produce sexual images or videos or taking the images without the person knowing.

Young people are also increasingly sharing and sending intimate images amongst themselves. While the first initial sending of the picture may be consensual, the re-sharing of the images can change to being non-consensual. This can evolve into something called sextortion, which is blackmailing a person with youth-produced images to extort sexual favours. The COVID-19 pandemic has also seen an increase in live-streaming TF-CSA, which has been attributed to people staying at home and having increased access to technology. Live streaming abuse is where child sexual abuse is streamed online to other viewers, either viewing child sexual abuse material simultaneously or coercing a child to perform sexual acts for a live stream.

What makes TF-CSA different to offline child sexual abuse?

The online element introduces three unique factors: global reach, increased accessibility, and permanence. While offline child sexual abuse often has a definable end, this is frequently not the case for online abuse. In the case of sexual abuse material disseminated online, the permanence of the internet often results in a cycle of re-traumatisation. This cycle and permanence can perpetuate a sense of fear and anxiety, as young people are aware that their images and videos have been circulated around the globe.

Many young people feel as if these unique characteristics of online sexual abuse are not addressed in the mental health support they receive. This then leaves them feeling misunderstood, confused, and feeling a sense of blame and shame.

The i-Minds app aims to support young people who have experienced TF-CSA by using a psychological therapy approach called mentalisation. The next blog in this series will explore how mentalisation works and how the i-Minds app will help young people who have experienced technology-facilitated child sexual abuse.

Related