The Digital Futures for Children (DFC) centre has been working with researchers at the University of Cambridge, UNICEF Innocenti - Global Office of Research and Foresight, the University of Oxford, and Tech Legality to examine measures of technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) in diverse contexts around the world. Assuming a global perspective, we not only aim to help advance the conceptual understanding of technology-facilitated CSEA but to validate existing measurements in diverse populations to improve the future study of related risks and harms.
Our findings
Drawing on new research with experts, we identify six guiding principles to help diverse stakeholders build consensus and improve responses to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA):
1. Children’s voices count: children's perspectives and experiences must be central to decision-making, empowering them and enhancing credibility in addressing digital risks and harms.
2. Language matters: consistent, clear terminology is essential to align public understanding, policy, and advocacy with children’s lived experiences of abuse.
3. Take care with context: recognise the complex and varied cultural, legal, and technological dynamics of CSEA when creating protective measures.
4. Avoid blaming children: prioritise rehabilitation for victims and restorative justice for perpetrators while avoiding language or actions that stigmatise children.
5. Future proof policy: policies should proactively adapt to emerging technologies and societal changes to combat technology-facilitated CSEA effectively over time.
6. Embracea a child rights approach: address CSEA through a holistic framework grounded in children’s rights, ensuring their protection, participation, and freedom in the digital environment.
The fndings report addresses the pressing challenge of technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) by bridging the gap between the complexities of defining and classifying technology-facilitated CSEA and effective and appropriate responses and protection measures. Expert interviews, consultation and desk research reveal contrasting definitions and conceptions of technology-facilitated CSEA. These largely stem from the differences in terminology, context and the contrasting roles played by stakeholders, creating uncertainties and misunderstandings that impede effective responses.
Building on these insights and a statistical analysis of the Disrupting Harm evidence, the report sets out the six principles. These support policymakers, researchers, and practitioners with a holistic and context-sensitive child rights approach to addressing technology-facilitated CSEA and provide an entry point for professionals new to or with limited prior experience with the subject matter.
Our project
The project is funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (Rephrain), which among other things aims to deliver culturally-sensitive approaches to online harm protection. The project will specifically focus on Rephrain’s mission to enable research to develop methods to help children meaningfully participate in digital environments, and experience the many opportunities, while also safeguarding them from harm.
Our team
In addition to our team at the Digital Futures for Children centre (Professor Sonia Livingstone, Dr Anri van der Spuy and Dr Kim R. Sylwander), the REPHRAIN work is supported by researchers from the University of Cambridge, UNICEF, the University of Oxford, and Tech Legality.
Dr Amy Orben is a Programme Leader Track Scientist at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and Fellow of St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge. She directs an internationally renowned research programme investigating the links between mental health and digital technology use in adolescence. Amy advises governments, health officials and civil servants around the world and has received a range of prestigious awards including the Medical Research Council Early Career Impact Prize (2022).
Emma Day (Tech Legality) is a British lawyer, qualified in Canada, with nearly 25 years experience working in human rights. Emma has been consulting for UNICEF on data governance for children, 5Rights Digital Futures Commission, providing a legal analysis of the governance of EdTech in schools, and for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on hate speech, disinformation and misinformation. Emma is a Non-resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab, and an alumna of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. She is also a member of the European Data Protection Board Support Pool of Experts.
Dr Sakshi Ghai is an Assistant Professor of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Before joining LSE, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and currently holds the Committee for Children Junior Research Fellowship at Linacre College, University of Oxford. Her work encompasses two complementary strands of research: applied research into the effects of digital technologies on young people’s well-being, and meta-scientific research into the diversity of behavioural science.
Dr Sabine K Witting (Tech Legality) is a German lawyer and academic with 10 years of experience in human rights, child rights and digital technologies. She holds a PhD in Law from Leiden University and is currently an Assistant Professor for Law and Digital Technologies at eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies (Leiden University). Her research focuses on the intersection between human rights, children’s rights, platform regulation and digital technologies, with a focus on the EU. She advises governments, regional bodies, the private sector and UN agencies on laws and policies dealing with human rights, business sector responsibility and digital technologies.
Dr Daniel Kardefelt-Winther leads UNICEF’s research programme on Children and Digital Technologies at UNICEF Innocenti - Global Office of Research and Foresight. He works at the intersection of child rights and digital technology and has several years of experience in designing, implementing and managing cross-national comparative evidence generation projects involving children and adults. In his role at UNICEF, Daniel manages the Global Kids Online and Disrupting Harm projects, generating evidence with children in more than 30 low-middle income countries.
Patrick Burton is a Senior Research Associate at Tech Legality, a research consultant, and former Executive Director at Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (South Africa). He has extensive experience at both a research and policy level on child and youth victimisation, violence prevention and youth resilience. He has worked on the development and implementation of a National School Safety Framework for the National Department of Basic Education in South Africa, and the integration of online safety into national education policies.
Matthew Richards is a Research Assistant at the Digital Mental Health Group based at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge. He uses computational and statistical methods to understand the impact of social media on mental health.