Report analysis
In 2024, as in previous years, most of the child sexual abuse imagery seen in reports showed girls only and this has increased this year. We have also observed an increase in the number of criminal reports showing boys only.
Where ‘both’ has been recorded by an analyst, it may be that both boys only and girls only were present in imagery on a URL or in reported imagery showing child sexual abuse. Or it could be that boy, and girl, victims were present together in the same image or video.
In 2024, 1%, or 2,612 reports, showed the sexual abuse of boys only.
Our analysts tend to find that a higher proportion of the imagery of boys shows Category A child sexual abuse compared to girls.
This suggests there may be fewer images of sexual posing, nude or partially nude images of boys being found proactively by analysts or reported by the public. When content of boys only is found by the IWF it is more likely to depict sexual activity such as masturbation or penetration (Category A and B).
In 2024, 97% or 278,492 reports showed the sexual abuse of girls only – an increase of 14,246 since 2023. While this seems like a significant increase, the proportion is similar to last year’s numbers. Analysts tell us that they tend to find a high volume of Category C imagery of girls.
This conveys the frequency and volume at which they find and assess reports showing images of girls that depict partially nude, nude or topless sexual posing, whether it is ‘self-generated’ or taken by an abuser present with the child.
See our Imagery assessment for a breakdown of our image and video data