Experts warn of rise in sadistic online exploitation of vulnerable children

The cases received by the NCMEC represent only a small fraction of the total number of incidents, experts say. Photograph: Chainarong Prasertthai/Getty Images/iStockphoto View image in fullscreen The cases received by the NCMEC represent only a small fraction of the total number of incidents, experts say. Photograph: Chainarong Prasertthai/Getty Images/iStockphoto Experts warn of rise in sadistic online exploitation of vulnerable children Global increase in cases of predators coercing children to harm themselves or produce child sexual abuse material Cases of predators coercing children into producing sexual photos and videos of themselves have surged globally in the past year, a cruel phenomenon known as “sadistic online exploitation”, child safety experts and law enforcement officials warn. In cases of sadistic online exploitation, perpetrators target vulnerable teens on social media platforms and online games. These predators then compel their victims into producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), harming themselves and others, or, in extreme cases, attempting suicide. “We often see that the offenders will communicate with that child and, through that initial communication, ask them for nude or explicit imagery of themselves,” said Kathryn Rifenbark, a director at the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). “Then they’re using that as a leverage to cause the child to harm themselves or harm other children or other people in their home or create more explicit imagery of them or other children in their home.” Recent cases include the June sentencing of a 21-year-old Maryland man to 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting 10 female minors and cyberstalking. The perpetrator “used the internet to create and share extreme content – such as gore, violence, and child sexual abuse material – to extort and blackmail vulnerable teenagers”, and the man sexually exploited his victims and encouraged them to engage in self-harm, according to a Department of Justice press release. The NCMEC received more than 3,000 reports of sadistic online exploitation worldwide in 2025, a 125% increase from the previous year. But those cases represent only a small fraction of the total number of incidents, experts say, because the NCMEC is only notified if child sexual abuse material has been detected and reported. Predators targeting children often belong to online networks, and are often teens or young adults themselves. To recruit their victims, the perpetrators engage with video games popular with children, such as Roblox and Minecraft. A spokesperson for Microsoft, which owns Minecraft, said: “Our goal is to make Minecraft one of the hardest places for bad actors to operate, and we have a variety of tools we use to help foster a safe online experience, such as parental controls, chat filtering, in-game reporting, and dedicated moderation teams.” They may also search social media groups that focus on mental health issues such as eating disorde