Hundreds of UK children reporting blackmail over sexual images, data shows

• A record number of British children reported being blackmailed over sexual images of themselves, known as sextortion, in 2025.
• The Report Remove helpline received 394 sextortion claims last year, marking a 23 per cent increase from the previous year.
• Young boys, primarily aged 14 to 17, accounted for a staggering 98 per cent of these sexually coerced extortion reports.
• Organisations like the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and Childline highlight the severe emotional impact on victims and call for more support and education, particularly for boys.
• There are calls for the government to implement measures such as on-device nudity detection and blocking to prevent children from sending such images.

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Record number of children reporting online sextortion in UK, data reveals