Sexual abuse of kids online might be more common than you think. It’s time to treat sexual exploitation and abuse online as a global child health crisis, experts say.

As the internet becomes more and more embedded into our everyday lives, new risks emerge. For example, a recent study found that one in 12 children worldwide have been subjected to online child sexual exploitation or abuse.

The type of abuse ranged from solicitation to extortion. Georgia State researchers looked at data from more than 120 studies between 2010 and 2023.

Approximately one in 12 children worldwide experienced online sexual abuse in the past year, according to a study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and China Agricultural University analyzed 123 studies conducted from 2010 to 2023,

Online child sexual abuse is a global public health issue escalating rapidly due to fast-paced development and access to social media and other virtual contexts