Sexting refers to the sending of sexually suggestive or explicit messages either in text, image or video form. Among young people, it is also commonly known as “sending nudes” or “sexts.”

Over the past years sexting among young people, particularly the non-consensual abuse of intimate images has become a growing concern for hotlines and child protection organisations. Sexually explicit content featuring minors is referred to as “self-generated” content or self-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). It has become one of the most prevalent types of CSAM received by INHOPE member hotlines.

What about sharing content consensually?

Many teenagers consider sexting a natural part of their sexual development. And while there is nothing wrong with taking intimate images, unfortunately once the image is shared it can very quickly take on a life of its own, entirely out of control of the original creator. (Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery). Experiencing this form of abuse can cause strong feelings of distress, hopelessness, anxiety and shame, and can even have a long-term emotional impact. This is why it's so important for young people to know how and where they can reach out for support.

What can I do if nudes are shared against my will?

The most important thing to remember is that it is never your fault, and help is always available. Resources and support are available worldwide, so regardless of where you are in the world, there are professionals you can reach out to - both for emotional support, and to get the images removed from the internet as quickly as possible.

• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) provides a free service "Take It Down" that can help you remove or stop the online sharing of nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos of minors below the age of eighteen.

• StopNCII.org, is a free tool designed to support victims of Non-Consensual Intimate Image (NCII) abuse. The tool generates a hash value from an intimate image. Duplicate copies of the image all have the exact same hash value. By sharing the hash value with participating companies they can help to detect and remove images from being posted or shared online.

• Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation's Report Remove tool allows young people to report a nude video or image shared online to be removed. This tool provides a child-centred approach to image removal which can easily be done online.
  
  

If you’ve come across sexual content of yourself or another minor, contact your local hotline to have it removed by clicking here.