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One in four girls have been sexually propositioned by an adult online before they turn 18, according to new research from the federal government’s esafety regulator.
And the eSafety Commissioner wants families to start talking about online safety as a matter of priority.
The joint research with the Queensland University of Technology, led by child safety expert Professor Ben Mathews, found online sexual solicitation often begins early.
Eighty per cent of targets say it started by age 15 and 25 per cent say it began at age 11.
The study also found that 86.7 per cent of perpetrators were total strangers.
The findings are based on data from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) and a survey of 3500 young people aged 16 to 24 in Australia.
ESafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says the results reaffirm the importance of a holistic approach children’s safety online.
“These findings are absolutely startling,” she says.
“Prevention is just as important as enforcement. The best way to protect children is through open and ongoing conversations about online risks and by playing an active role in their online lives.
“Parents and carers play a unique and vital role in helping children recognise potential dangers and build digital resilience …,” Grant says.
“Children — especially girls — need the tools to navigate the online world safely. That’s why education and prevention remain at the heart of eSafety’s work, ensuring young people are empowered, engaged, and digitally literate.”
Grant says they have been warning about the dangers of ‘co-mingled’ platforms, such as social media, messaging and gaming apps, where children and adults are online together.
“While many of these can provide valuable experiences for young people, they can also be weaponised by predators to target children,” she says.
Prof. Mathews says a proactive, preventative approach is needed.
“Parents are an important part of this. Schools should also play a key role in building children and young people’s digital skills and literacy in sexuality and relationships,” he says.
He also wants to see suitable policies in place as technological capacity grows.
For the full study, click here: Australian Child Maltreatment Study findings 2025
FINDINGS
- Overall, 17.7 per cent of all children and young people that were surveyed have experienced online sexual solicitation by an adult; girls face a significantly higher risk than boys (7.6 per cent).
- Non-consensual sharing of sexual images is a widespread problem with 7.6 per cent of survey respondents reporting an experience with it, of which 10.9 per cent were girls while 3.8 per cent were boys.
- Among those affected, 65 per cent said incidents began by age 15 and 15 per cent before age 12.
- Nearly half (48.8 per cent) of perpetrators were romantic partners under 18 while 23.4 per cent were other adolescents outside relationships.
