DHS Issues National Threat Report on Surge in Online Child Exploitation and AI-Generated CSAM

The Department of Homeland Security released updated national threat data showing that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 21 million reports in 2025, containing 61.8 million images, videos and other files related to child sexual exploitation. Reports of online enticement rose to 1.4 million in 2025 from 546,333 in 2024, including over 80,000 sextortion reports, with daily reports of financial sextortion increasing by 37 percent to an average of 137 reports per day and over 50,000 reports for the year. The surge is attributed in part to the REPORT Act enacted in 2024, which expanded mandatory reporting requirements for electronic service providers, including social media companies, to report instances of online enticement and child sex trafficking, resulting in more than 105,000 child sex trafficking reports in the law's first full year. DHS emphasized that financial sextortion occurs when predators coerce minors into sending sexually explicit images and then demand money to keep those images private, and that coordinated action is urgently needed to address emerging forms of online exploitation.

The 1,500 percent year-on-year increase in AI-generated child sexual abuse material reported to the CyberTipline in 2025 reflects a threat surface expanding faster than manual review or keyword filtering can address, requiring detection systems that identify coercive pattern and escalation intent independent of content type. Guardii anti-CSAM and anti-grooming modules, world-leading in their deployment across Instagram, Discord, Roblox and other platforms where the REPORT Act now mandates provider vigilance, detect the solicitation of explicit material, the offer to generate synthetic imagery, and the shift from persuasion to coercion in real time, flagging the conversation to a parent or platform moderator before material is created or shared. The system distinguishes grooming progression from ordinary conversation, recognizes both traditional and AI-augmented solicitation tactics, and surfaces a child in crisis to the right authority without requiring human moderators to review every message, enabling platforms to meet expanded statutory reporting obligations while protecting minors at the point of first contact rather than after material enters circulation.