Websites selling child abuse images double in past year as Jess Phillips hits out at ‘sickening’ new data
The number of commercial websites trading images of child sexual abuse has doubled in the past year, a leading internet watchdog has revealed.
According to the annual report of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), published on Thursday, the number of such sites will be 15,031 in 2025; this number increased sharply compared to the previous year, to 7,028.
The report also detailed the identification and digital tagging of 317,101 images depicting child abuse; This is a crucial step that allows tech companies to prevent their further spread.
Disturbingly, nearly 16 percent of these platforms (2,458 in total) were found to be obfuscated, appearing to host legitimate content, or remaining dormant and secretly providing access to pedophiles.
In response, IWF advocates giving financial services the power to detect and report payment links associated with accessing these disgusting images of abuse.
Kerry Smith, chief executive of the IWF, said: “It is clear that criminals are taking advantage of systemic failures and finding it very easy to make huge profits from the sexual exploitation of children.
“We need to disrupt this system at every stage, this is an industry.
“We need mandatory measures for financial services to proactively detect, remove and report digital payment links for the sale of images and videos of child sexual abuse.
“We also need to see companies using end-to-end encryption on their services adopt tried and trusted security tools that can prevent criminals from using these platforms as safe havens to distribute child sexual abuse material.”
The number of children reporting being victims of so-called sextortion, in which blackmailers trick or coerce them into providing graphic images that they threaten to publish, has also more than doubled in the past year.
IWF saw 397 of these cases in 2025, with most of them reported to the Report Removal hotline, which helped remove the images. In 2024 there were 175 people.
Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: “The growing number of commercial child sexual exploitation sites uncovered by the Internet Watch Foundation highlights a serious problem with malicious criminal gangs profiting from the suffering of children.
“We know that young victims of sexual abuse are often left defenseless and can face re-traumatisation knowing that images of themselves continue to circulate online. This type of abuse requires urgent action.
“Ofcom must use its powers and work with others to identify and block these perpetrators at the source before they affect the lives of more young people.
“Similarly, tech companies need to use existing technology that prevents children from taking, sharing or receiving nude photos.”
Jess Phillips, minister for the protection and protection of women and girls from violence, said: “These figures are sickening and we will not allow criminal gangs to profit from the unimaginable suffering of children.
“New laws in the Crime and Policing Act mean anyone caught operating or controlling these disgusting websites will face hefty prison sentences, and we will not hesitate to go further.
“This government is choosing a side. Tech companies and the financial industry cannot continue to turn a blind eye to an online market that facilitates and profits from the sexual exploitation of children.
“We will use the full power of the British state to deliver the biggest crackdown this country has ever seen, both online and offline, against child abuse.”
