Internet Watch Foundation Reports Record Levels of Self-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery

The Internet Watch Foundation reported that self-generated child sexual abuse material now accounts for the majority of imagery processed by its analysts, with a significant proportion originating from coerced production during online sextortion and grooming. The annual report documented a continued increase in the volume of reports, the severity of abuse depicted, and the use of generative AI tools to create and manipulate illegal imagery. The IWF noted that much self-generated material is initially shared in private direct-message conversations on social media and messaging platforms before being extracted, traded and distributed in dedicated networks.

Intercepting coercion at the point of production prevents imagery from being created in the first place. Guardii's anti-sextortion and anti-grooming detection modules identify the escalation, manipulation and image-solicitation patterns that characterise coerced self-generation in real-time direct-message exchanges on Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms. The system flags the threatening or predatory conversation before explicit material is shared, surfacing a child at acute risk to a parent or safeguarding authority and blocking the offender's access. By operating at the conversation level rather than awaiting distribution, the technology addresses the upstream driver the IWF data highlights: the private, manipulative exchange that produces the imagery analysts later encounter.