The United Kingdom (UK) is a key player in the fight against online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Their Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy 2021 outlines the government’s ambitious objectives to address all forms of child sexual abuse, prevent individuals from offending and re-offending, protect and safeguard children, and support all survivors.
Despite measures to address OSEA, online abuse persists and has increased as more people interact online through the use of social media and smartphones. In 2020, the overall share of households in the UK that had access to the internet was 97 percent.
The information in this factsheet is largely derived from our 2021 report, Ending Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Women and Girls: A Call for International Standards.