The state of sextortion in 2025

In front of screens across America, a quiet crisis is unfolding. Sexual extortion has become a very real threat that’s casting a dark shadow over young lives.

Thorn’s latest research, titled Sexual Extortion & Young People: Navigating Threats in Digital Environments, places the spotlight on this manipulative, isolating abuse. We surveyed 1,200 young people, ages 13 to 20, as they shared their experiences with sextortion. 

From that research, we learned that 1 in 7 victims were driven to harm themselves as a result of their experience. For LGBTQ+ youth, who are less likely to have an offline support system which can increase their isolation, that number nearly triples to 28% compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers. Behind each of these numbers is a young person feeling trapped, afraid, and possibly hopeless.

This research is a call to action. By sharing the state of sextortion in 2025, we hope to shine a light on how it happens, who is at risk, and what we can all do to fight back. Our children deserve to grow up exploring the digital world without fear. This research gives us an understanding of the digital safety nets we must implement to make that happen.

The current landscape of sextortion

Sextortion is a form of abuse where someone threatens to share private sexual images or videos unless their demands are met. It’s not just about money—it’s about power, control, and causing fear. For the victim, it can feel like being trapped with no way out. 

“Sextortion is evolving—demands now span beyond child sexual abuse to include money, control, and physical violence against victims and those around them. Its scale is growing, with perpetrators leveraging the round-the-clock availability of platforms designed to help people connect and build relationships, turning these very tools into instruments of isolation and exploitation.”

• Melissa Stroebel,
  Vice President of Research & Strategic Impact, Thorn

This abuse takes many forms, at times overlapping, and understanding them helps us better protect young people:

Relational sextortion: When someone the victim feels they know—often a romantic partner, friend, or even family member—uses intimate images to control or manipulate them. The demands usually require the victim to remain in or return to a relationship with the perpetrator.

Exploitative content sextortion: Demands the victim share more intimate photos, videos, or other material. 

Financial sextortion: The extortionist demands money to prevent images from being shared, often perpetrated by organized criminal networks that frequently target young men.

Sadistic sextortion: Recently on the rise, these demands include suffering or submission through violence, self-harm, or destruction. Often coordinated through organized, online groups.

While the specifics of each abusive interaction differ, they share a common thread: technology is almost always involved. Our research found that 81% of sextortion threats happened exclusively online, with only 6% occurring entirely in person. Social media platforms, gaming sites, and messaging apps have become the primary spaces where perpetrators find, target, and/or threaten young people.

The scale of this problem is alarming. One in five teens in our survey reported experiencing sextortion. That’s not just a statistic—it represents millions of young people facing threats that have real consequences on their mental health and put them at risk for further harm.

Age is another critical factor. Our research found that 1 in 6 victims were age 12 or younger when they first experienced sextortion. These younger children are particularly vulnerable, as they often lack the emotional tools to recognize manipulation and may not know how to seek help when targeted

How sextortion happens today

Understanding how sextortion unfolds can help caregivers, educators, and technology platforms better protect young people from this harm. While each situation is unique, our research reveals common patterns in how this abuse happens.

Even if the perpetrator knows the victim offline, sextortion threats often begin with online contact, either through social media, gaming platforms, or messaging apps. Perpetrators may use fake profiles, pose as peers, or leverage existing in-person relationships to build trust with potential victims. In some cases, the abuser spends time getting to know the young person before making any demands. In others, especially financial sextortion schemes, they move quickly to manipulation.

One alarming finding is how rapidly these situations can escalate. Nearly one-third (30%) of victims experienced demands within just 24 hours of initial contact. This fast timeline gives young people little time to recognize warning signs or seek help before facing threats.

Technology plays a central role in virtually all sextortion cases, with 94% of threats made through digital platforms. However, how technology is used varies:

• In financial sextortion, perpetrators often target victims they don’t know personally, using social media or gaming platforms to make initial contact before quickly moving to demands for money.
• In relationship-based sextortion, existing offline relationships leverage popular apps and text messaging services to stay connected even when they aren’t together. In sextortion, that access creates opportunity for threats and intimidation.

The demands made by perpetrators also vary:

• 39% demanded more sexual images
• 31% demanded in-person meetings
• 25% made relationship demands (like staying in a relationship)
• 22% demanded money

In nearly three-fourths of cases, the perpetrator used the threat of sharing sexual images or personal information with others to pressure the victim into complying with demands. Perpetrators often threaten to send images to family members, friends, or classmates—people whose opinions matter deeply to the young victim. This targeted approach makes sextortion particularly effective at controlling victims through fear and shame, keeping them trapped and isolated while the abuse continues.

Adding to this complexity, many victims never voluntarily shared images in the first place. Our research found that 44% of victims reported that their images were recorded or screenshotted without consent and 13%  reported that they were extorted by someone using an AI-generated deepfake nude. This creates an additional layer of violation for victims.

Creating a safer future

Despite the severity of sextortion, many young victims suffer in silence. Our research found that 16% of victims never told anyone about their experience. This silence prevents them from getting the help they need and the abuse to continue.

Several factors create barriers that keep young people from seeking help in cases of sextortion:

• Shame and embarrassment often prevent victims from coming forward. Many feel they will be judged, blamed, or punished for having shared images in the first place. This stigma and victim-blaming are essential elements that abusers often rely on to maintain control.
• Fear of escalation keeps victims quiet. They worry that telling someone might lead to the perpetrator carrying out their threats or making the situation worse.
• Lack of awareness about available resources leaves many young people feeling like they have nowhere to turn.
• Concern about losing access to devices or platforms if parents or guardians react by restricting online activities. 

While seeking help feels impossible for many victims, breaking the silence is often the first step toward ending the abuse and beginning recovery.

“Just please don’t keep this a secret. Tell someone, anyone, everyone right away. Don’t wait, someone will believe you and will help you.”  – Male, 15 years old, United States 

The role of parents and caregivers

Open, judgment-free conversations about online safety are essential. Young people must know they can come to trusted adults if something goes wrong online, without fear of punishment or losing access to their devices. These conversations should: 

• Start early, before children are actively independent online
• Include clear discussions about sextortion and how it happens
• Focus on building trust rather than instilling fear
• Emphasize that victims are never to blame for their exploitation

Platform responsibility

Technology platforms have a crucial role to play in preventing and addressing sextortion. Our research found that 70% of victims used online safety features like blocking and reporting, demonstrating that these tools are essential lifelines for young people in crisis. However, more must be done:

• Platforms need better detection systems to identify sextortion attempts before harm occurs
• Reporting processes must be streamlined and accessible to young users in distress
• Safety features should be prominently displayed and easy to use
• Cross-platform collaboration is needed to track and respond to perpetrators who move between services and elevate rapidly emerging threats

Emerging trends and ongoing research

The landscape of sextortion continues to evolve. Recent headlines about networks like 764—which the FBI now considers a “tier one” terrorism threat—highlight how these crimes are becoming more organized and extreme, with some perpetrators specifically seeking to drive victims to self-harm. Early ecosystem intervention of this troubling form of sextortion can limit its scale, preventing a similar rapid growth in prevalence that we saw with financial sextortion over the past few years. And, as rapidly as these threats evolve, the universal importance of support systems can’t be overstated. Research to understand the best practices to deliver accessible and effective support to kids in danger is vital.

The path forward

Despite the sobering findings of this research, there is hope. Early intervention can make a significant difference in outcomes for young victims. When young people receive prompt support from trusted adults and have access to appropriate resources, the cycle of abuse can be broken.

By working together—across families, communities, technology companies, and policymakers—we can create a digital world where young people can explore, connect, and express themselves without fear of exploitation. Our children deserve nothing less.

Additional resources

• Read the research report to learn more
• Visit Thorn for Parents for resources on discussing sextortion
• More information for young people who may need help
• Donate to Thorn to help us continue researching youth experiences and building technology that protects children