Detecting, Deterring, Investigating and Prosecuting Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

A high-level précis of this Technical Paper can be found in the Summary for Policymakers report, Disrupting Digital Exploitation: Recommendations for Preventing and Responding to Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

Technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (TF-CSEA) is an escalating global crisis. Digital platforms, social media, livestreaming services, and online payment systems enable sexual abuse of children at a significant scale and speed.

Reports of online grooming, financial sextortion, livestreamed abuse, and AI-generated child sexual abuse material continue to rise across regions. Existing interventions struggle to keep pace with technological change, allowing offenders to operate across borders with limited risk of detection or disruption.

This assessment synthesizes the evidence on detecting, deterring, investigating, and prosecuting TF-CSEA from over 100 high-quality studies published over the past decade. Following standard PRISMA and synthesis protocols, the review assesses technical, legal, policing, behavioral, and educational interventions and provides four key findings:

1. Most interventions focus on detecting abuse after it occurs. Far fewer disrupt the systems that enable exploitation and abuse, such as payment mechanisms and advertising and recruitment pathways, or address limited judicial capacity that falls short of deterrence or enforcement.
2. Technical tools may reduce harm at scale but depend on legal authority, secure data access, safeguards, and effective enforcement. Without these, such automated and AI-assisted tools have limited impact.
3. Behavioral and educational interventions can reduce risk and increase awareness but cannot replace platform accountability. Evidence of sustained behavior change remains limited without funding, including for longitudinal studies.
4. Financial systems are the most underused leverage point against TF-CSEA. Few interventions disrupt payments financing abuse, focusing instead on tracing transactions after harm occurs.

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This synthesis provides the most comprehensive assessment of TF-CSEA interventions to date. Evidence gaps remain, especially on payment disruption and long-term outcomes. Nonetheless, the findings demonstrate a clear consensus on the need for coordinated legal authority, scalable technical tools, sustained enforcement, and action to interrupt financial flows.

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ISBN: 978-3-03983-013-8

URL: www.ipie.info/research/sr2026-1

DOI: www.doi.org/10.61452/UZUS7376

Citation: International Panel on the Information Environment [K. Pothong, S. Kaynak, S. Ghai, D. Fry, S.Livingstone, A. Phippen, C. R. Soriano,L. M. Given, P.N. Howard, S. Valenzuela (eds.)], “Detecting, Deterring, Investigating, and Prosecuting Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse,” Zurich, Switzerland: IPIE, 2026. Synthesis Report, SR2026.1, doi: 10.61452/UZUS7376.