As image offences rise by 9%, our CEO Chris Sherwood says children have been failed by tech companies and urges firms to take action now.
- In 2025, police forces across the UK logged almost 37,000 child sexual abuse image crimes – a 9% rise on the previous year.
- Of the 10,811 crimes where the platform could be identified, more than 40% took place on Snapchat, while Meta platforms accounted for almost a quarter.
- We’re calling for tech companies to act now and block nude images from being taken and shared on children’s devices, stopping this abuse in its tracks.
We are urging tech companies to embed technology on children’s phones that blocks nude images from being created, shared or viewed – and for the UK government to take further action if they fail to.
Our call comes as data from 42 police forces1 shows that between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, there were 36,829 recorded offences of indecent and prohibited images of children across the UK. That was a 9% rise in recorded offences, compared to the previous year.2
Existing technologies can block illegal images in real time – embedding those on children's phones would help stop children being coerced to take and share images later used by offenders, as well as protecting them from seeing nude images.
Platform data
Of the 10,811 crimes where law enforcement recorded the platform used by perpetrators, 43% took place on Snapchat alone – a total of 4,615.
Overall, Meta platforms still accounted for almost a quarter of all offences (24%), with 8% on Instagram, 7% on WhatsApp, 5% on Facebook and 4% on Messenger.
However, the figures in relation to these platforms paint only part of the picture, as end-to-end-encryption (E2EE) means the scale of online child abuse images is hidden – preventing detection and leading to under-reporting on these platforms.
Chris Sherwood, CEO at the NSPCC, said:
”It is utterly indefensible that we are still seeing around 100 child sexual abuse image offences recorded every single day.
“Children across the UK are being completely failed by tech companies that should be protecting them online. We cannot keep letting them off the hook when they can do more to prevent this from happening in the first place.
“Behind every one of these offences is a child who has been groomed, abused and manipulated. They are left to carry the trauma, whilst tech companies continue to profit handsomely.
“Technology already exists that could be deployed today to stop children from taking, sharing or receiving nude images. So, the real question is: what’s stopping them? If they continue to drag their feet, Government must show their might by stepping in and compelling them to act."
Devastating impacts on children
Without adequate safety features designed to keep children safe online across all platforms, many young people are exposed to the risk of grooming, extortion, online child sexual abuse and having intimate images shared – all of which can have a devastating impact on a child’s life.
One 17-year-old boy who contacted Childline said: “I shared a nude online and it was leaked, so everyone at school saw it. I was in a really bad way, so I moved schools. The nude pictures still come up as random people message me and blackmail me with them. I'm worried about my new friends seeing them and how the leaked nudes will impact my career in the future."
If tech companies do not act, the UK government must make these safeguards mandatory to ensure every child is protected from this abuse online. This is one of the three recommendations we have pushed the government to implement to make children safe.
Need advice to help you support your child with online safety?
- We have online safety advice on a range of topics, from understanding AI to navigating social media.
- The Report Remove tool, by Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation, helps young people under 18 report sexual images or videos that have been shared online to see if they can be taken down.
Worried about a child?
You can contact the NSPCC Helpline by calling 0808 800 5000 or emailing help@NSPCC.org.uk
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References
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1. We sent Freedom of Information requests to all 43 police forces in England and Wales and received data from PSNI and Police Scotland relating to recorded offences of indecent images of children. We received responses from 42 forces with useable data for 2024/25.
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2. From the useable data, there was a 9% rise in these crimes compared to 2023/24 (33,886). Forces missing from this comparison were Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Thames Valley.