From Chatrooms to Giants, Platforms Fail to Tackle Growing Online Child Abuse

The OECD’s Transparency Reporting on Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Online 2025 delivers one of the most comprehensive reviews yet of how the digital industry is confronting child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) online. Developed with research support from INTERPOL, NCMEC (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children), the WeProtect Global Alliance, the Tech Coalition, and other child safety networks, the report assesses the policies, enforcement practices, and transparency of 100 online services. This includes the world’s 50 largest content-sharing platforms and 50 “CSEA-intensive” services frequently exploited for abuse. The goal is to establish a detailed benchmark for industry performance, identify policy gaps, and support international action against a crisis that is rapidly evolving in scale and sophistication.

Escalating Threats and New Digital Dangers

The report confirms what many frontline child protection agencies have long warned: online CSEA is escalating at an alarming rate. NCMEC received over 36 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 alone, while the INHOPE hotline network processed 2.5 million records of suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM), up 218% from the year before. Meanwhile, emerging technologies like AI-generated deepfakes and immersive virtual environments are opening new frontiers of harm. The widespread use of encrypted messaging platforms and livestreaming has made abuse harder to detect and prosecute. Children are increasingly targeted in “sextortion” schemes, where they are coerced into sharing explicit content and then blackmailed. In 2024, NCMEC received over 546,000 reports of online enticement, a nearly 200% jump from 2023.

Slow Industry Progress and Uneven Transparency

Among the 50 largest platforms, industry progress since the OECD’s last benchmarking report in 2023 has been modest but uneven. The number of companies with “highly detailed” CSEA policy definitions has doubled from 10 to 20. Platforms like Discord, Reddit, and Microsoft have introduced clearer guidelines, often citing examples of banned behavior such as grooming, CSAM, and child sexualization. Yet, 33 platforms still fail to define a “child” in their terms of service, a legal and ethical oversight. While 25 platforms now publish CSEA-related transparency reports, half still do not. Those that do release reports often provide sparse or inconsistent metrics, making meaningful comparisons across services difficult.

Only a few companies, Google, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft, and Snapchat, stand out for publishing dedicated CSEA transparency reports with metrics on content removed, accounts banned, and referrals to authorities. Others either bury such data under generic categories like “illegal content” or provide no breakdown at all. Differences in report frequency, terminology, and methodology further limit the reports’ utility for policymakers and researchers. Fragmented regulatory requirements across jurisdictions are also contributing to this inconsistency, with platforms often issuing multiple reports to satisfy local laws but failing to harmonize their disclosures globally.

The Dark Corners of the Internet: CSEA-Intensive Platforms

One of the most powerful additions to the 2025 report is its focus on 50 “CSEA-intensive” services, platforms frequently identified by law enforcement, child safety NGOs, and victims themselves as hotspots for abuse. These include popular chatrooms, messaging apps, dating services, and adult content platforms such as Omegle, 4chan, Kik, Chatroulette, Pornhub, and Yubo. While 23 of these platforms provide highly detailed definitions of CSEA, 10 don’t mention the issue at all in their policies. Only four of the 31 services unique to this group issue any form of transparency report.

Even more concerning is the lack of proactive detection. Only 22 CSEA-intensive services describe any detection or moderation systems in public documents. Messaging and chat platforms are especially opaque; 11 of 21 in this category provide no information about how they address child abuse content. Notification and appeal mechanisms are also inconsistent. While 30 services offer both, many do so in vague or ad hoc ways. Some platforms impose immediate bans for suspected violations without user notice or recourse. Others expect users to post appeals in open forums or email moderators directly, lacking the transparency and structure that larger platforms are beginning to implement.

Technology, Regulation, and the Road Ahead

The report also highlights international efforts to curb online child sexual abuse. INTERPOL’s ICSE database now houses over 4.9 million records of CSAM, supporting cross-border investigations. The EU’s Digital Services Act and Australia’s Online Safety Act are pushing for more rigorous transparency and accountability from tech firms. The Tech Coalition’s Project Lantern, launched in 2023, facilitates cross-platform sharing of CSEA-related data and enforcement signals. Yet the use of core technologies like hash-matching (PhotoDNA, Google CSAI Match) and AI classifiers remains uneven. Fewer than 60% of tech firms in the coalition use classifiers to detect new or previously unseen material and even fewer share detection signals across platforms.

Ultimately, the OECD calls for urgent and unified action. The report stresses that voluntary efforts, while helpful, are not enough to meet the scale of the crisis. Without clear definitions, mandatory transparency, harmonized reporting standards, and cross-sector partnerships, many online services will continue to lag behind offenders who are agile, tech-savvy, and increasingly emboldened. The moral imperative is clear: the protection of children must not be undermined by the technical convenience or commercial interests of digital platforms. The time for coordinated, enforceable global standards is now.