Two-thirds of children interact daily online with people they don’t know despite grooming fears – Report

Toronto, September 25, 2024 –  Over six in 10 children with access to the internet interact with “unknown others” daily despite concerns about online grooming, according to new research released by Save the Children and Western Sydney University that highlighted children’s demands for better online protection.

The research team held in-depth consultations with about 600 children and young people aged 8 to 18 from Australia, Finland, the Philippines, Cambodia, Colombia, Kenya, and South Africa, who shared their views and experiences of facing inappropriate requests online for personal information or images.

The report, ‘Protecting Children from Online Grooming’, was written by the Young & Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University, and funded by the global child online safety investment vehicle Safe Online as part of the Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of online grooming and child sexual and financial exploitation have reached an all-time high [1], with an 82% rise in online grooming crimes against children reported in that period [2]. Online grooming practices have also transformed, with the fastest growing form of online grooming targeting young men for financial extortion [3].

The report revealed children were more inclined to connect with strangers – or “unknown others” – online as they matured and became more social, motivated by a desire for friendship, fun and play, followed by a wish to stay informed about trends and events, and to connect over shared interests.

The findings also showed that while children across all cultures and age groups were more suspicious of people they didn’t know online than people they knew in person, most (66%) of the study participants still interacted with “unknown others” daily online.

Children in high-income settings were twice as likely to use privacy settings to protect themselves from unwanted contacts, compared to children from some low-income settings, but the potential to derive financial benefits was an incentive for children in middle-income countries to connect with strangers online, potentially compromising their safety.

While children have come up with numerous ways to protect themselves, they are calling for widespread, accessible and targeted online safety education for themselves and their caregivers. In the discussions the children also made concrete suggestions about how technology platforms and governments can implement changes that will keep them safer online.

Sonisay*, a girl aged 11-12 from rural Cambodia, said:

“Adults should know that children interact with strangers, monitor them, and read their chats.”

Angel* aged 15-17 from a city in the Philippines said:

“Adults need to know about the children of today who are highly computer-savvy… To be able to support and protect the children, adults need to understand that children are comfortable with using the internet which pushes to interact with strangers.”

Charlie* aged 14 from Australia emphasized the need to start online safety education earlier:

“Having young children educated about the safety of technology and the dangers … adults only start this education for older kids on social media when the problem can be on video games played by young kids.”

Children reported that it was very difficult to ascertain the intentions of strangers online. Children were also particularly worried about being asked for personal information or nude pictures, being drawn into inappropriate sexually-oriented exchanges, or exposure to criminal activities.

The report found that children want and need better online protection, with children primarily using intuition and background checks rather than seeking help from trusted adults to manage their online interactions with people they don’t know.

The data also showed that children distinguish people they know well both online and in person from those they only know online, with 86% approaching the latter with caution. Yet despite this wariness, children were still three times more likely to ignore or decline an inappropriate or unwanted request than they are to report or block it.

Steve Miller, Save the Children’s Global Director of Child Protection, said:

“Children deserve to thrive in a safe and nurturing environment – both online and offline. As the digital landscape evolves, so do the challenges and threats, including the threat of online grooming and exploitation. We need to foster a digital environment that is not only safe but also enriching, allowing children to explore, learn, and grow without fear. Policymakers need to listen to the voices and experiences of children when developing policies that protect them.”

Professor Amanda Third, Co-Director of the Young and Resilient Research Centre, Western Sydney University, said: 

“Keeping children safe from online grooming requires a whole-of-community approach. Governments, NGOs, technology platforms, teachers, parents, caregivers, and children themselves all have an important role to play. However, to most effectively address this issue it is crucial that we listen to the views and experiences of children and young people and engage them as active partners in the research and policy design process. Children and young people are finding their own ways to tackle this issue and devise solutions but they are also calling on us to help equip them and their caregivers with the skills and knowledge needed to be able to safely navigate these rapidly evolving digital environments.”

Save the Children has launched a major global effort to support digital inclusion and empower the next generation of resilient digital citizens. Save the Children’s Safe Digital Childhood initiative is includes partnering with schools, communities and tech leaders to break down barriers to digital inclusion by making sure the children with the fewest resources can access devices and connectivity; offering targeted digital literacy and citizenship programs; helping technology industry partners embed child-centric safeguards into their platforms; and empowering children to advocate for their rights in the digital world.

The Young & Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University is an Australian-based, international research center that unites young people with researchers, practitioners, innovators, and policymakers to explore the role of technology in children’s and young people’s lives and how it can be used to improve individual and community resilience across generations.

Safe Online is the only global investment vehicle dedicated to keeping children safe in the digital world. Through investing in innovation and bringing key actors together, Safe Online helps shape a digital world that is safe and empowering for all children and young people, everywhere. The Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund, which funded the research, is a groundbreaking collaboration fueling actionable research and bringing together the tech industry with academia and civil society in a bold alliance to end online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

*Names have been changed to protect identities

[1] WeProtect Global Threat Assessment Data 2023

[2] NSPCC. (2023, August 15). 82% rise in online grooming crimes against children in the last 5 years.

[3] WeProtect’s Global Threat Assessment Data 2023