Online sexual exploitation of children: what it is, and why every Australian needs to understand it
This week, a prominent Australian author pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. The case is confronting. It is also not unusual. Here is what Australians need to know about a crime that is escalating in our own backyard.
A prominent Australian author has pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and distributing child sexual exploitation material. He was arrested at his home in Western Australia in January 2026 after allegedly being found "actively engaging" with other offenders online. His books had appeared on school curricula.
ABC News, 5 May 2026
Cases like this shock us in part because they shatter assumptions. The offenders in these cases are not strangers lurking in shadows. They are, in many instances, people who live and work among us. Teachers, coaches, authors, professionals. The discomfort that follows these revelations is productive if we channel it into understanding.
So let us start at the beginning.
What is online sexual exploitation of children?
Online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) is an umbrella term for a wide range of criminal behaviours that use the internet or digital technology to sexually abuse or exploit a child under the age of 18. It includes the production, possession, and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), often referred to in legal contexts as child exploitation material (CEM).
It also includes grooming, which is the process by which an offender builds trust and emotional connection with a child (and sometimes their family) to lower the child's defences and enable abuse. Online platforms make grooming faster, more scalable, and significantly harder to detect than it was in purely physical environments.
Sextortion is another form. This is when a perpetrator manipulates a child or young person into sharing explicit content and then uses that material to blackmail them, either for more content or for money. It is one of the fastest-growing threats, with teenage boys increasingly targeted by offshore criminal networks pretending to be female peers.
Why terminology matters
You may notice this content avoids the term "child pornography." This is deliberate. The word pornography implies consent. Children cannot consent to sexual activity or to being recorded. The correct terminology, used by Australian law enforcement and child protection bodies, is child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or child exploitation material (CEM). Words shape how we think about crime. These children are not subjects of pornography. They are victims of abuse.
The scale of the problem in Australia
Australians can be tempted to think of this as a foreign problem, something happening in other countries to other children. The data does not support that comfort.
The Australian Federal Police-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) received 82,764 reports of online child sexual exploitation in the 2024/25 financial year. That figure has grown every single year since the ACCCE was established. It compares to 36,600 reports in 2021/22. In four years, the number has more than doubled.
"The 41 per cent rise in reports of online child sexual exploitation is hugely confronting, as it represents acts of unspeakable horror and trauma that involve Australian children."
AFP Commander Helen Schneider, ACCCE, September 2025It is worth understanding what these reports actually contain. Each report typically includes images or videos of a child being sexually assaulted or exploited. These are not ambiguous files or edge cases. They are documented evidence of abuse.
A 2025 investigative report by 7 News Spotlight found that Australians are among the largest groups fuelling demand for child abuse material overseas, including so-called "live-stream" abuse where perpetrators pay to direct and watch the sexual assault of children in real time, often in Southeast Asia.
Who is at risk, and how does it happen?
Every child with internet access carries some degree of risk. But the data gives us clearer pictures of vulnerability.
A 2024 eSafety Commissioner study found that more than half (55%) of Australian children surveyed had been in contact with someone they first met online. Only one in three of their parents knew about it.
eSafety Commissioner, 2024Grooming typically begins on mainstream platforms. Social media, online games, and messaging apps are the most common contact points. Offenders are patient. They invest time building what feels to the child like a genuine, caring relationship. They normalise secrecy. They gradually introduce sexual content or conversation. By the time explicit requests are made, the child often feels complicit, ashamed, or afraid to tell anyone.
Bravehearts data shows that since the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of online grooming and child sexual exploitation have reached an all-time high, with an 82% rise in online grooming crimes against children recorded in that period. Remote learning, increased screen time, and reduced in-person support networks created conditions that offenders actively exploited.
Children with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and LGBTQIA+ young people face elevated risks. Sextortion disproportionately targets teenage boys, who are often targeted by offshore criminal networks and may be especially reluctant to seek help.
The myth of the trusted figure
Public conversation about child exploitation often defaults to the image of a predatory stranger. The evidence complicates this. Offenders come from every demographic, every profession, every community. They are known quantities in children's lives. They hold trusted roles. They are articulate, socially skilled, and often deliberately cultivate reputations for caring about young people.
This week's guilty plea is distressing precisely because it ruptures that myth. When someone whose work is embedded in schools and read by children and families is found guilty of this offence, it forces a necessary reckoning. Proximity to children and their communities is not incidental to how exploitation operates. Access, trust, and respectability are among the tools offenders use.
The Bravehearts research notes that the most common method used by those who seek to contact children is social media, and that 70% of respondents in a study who had sought contact with a child tried to do so online first.
What about the children in these images?
This is the question that gets lost in coverage focused on offenders. Every image and video that circulates online represents a real child who was harmed in order for that material to exist. Possession is not a passive act. Every person who holds or shares this material is participating in the continued exploitation of that child. The harm does not end when the abuse stops. The knowledge that material of them exists and continues to circulate is a source of profound, ongoing trauma for many survivors.
The ACCCE's Operation Tenterfield, which traced child abuse material to a Brisbane childcare centre, resulted in 1,623 child sexual abuse charges. The children in that case were very young. The material had circulated internationally for years before investigators could identify them. That is the reality of this crime.
What can Australians do?
Practical steps
- →Report suspected child exploitation material or online grooming to the ACCCE at accce.gov.au. Reports can be made anonymously.
- →Report illegal content online to the eSafety Commissioner at esafety.gov.au.
- →Talk to children about online safety, consent, and the right to tell a trusted adult if something makes them uncomfortable. Age-appropriate language matters more than avoiding the conversation.
- →Understand the platforms your children use. A 2024 eSafety study found only one in three parents knew about their child's online contacts.
- →If you or a young person you know needs support after online abuse, contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.
- →If a child is in immediate danger, call Triple Zero (000).
The community's role
The ACCCE is explicit that law enforcement alone cannot address this problem. The scale of OSEC in Australia, and globally, requires a whole-of-community response. That means parents, educators, employers, faith communities, and social networks all playing an active role in awareness, prevention, and reporting.
That also means resisting the temptation to treat guilty pleas or convictions as isolated incidents involving exceptional individuals. The evidence is clear. This happens across every sector of Australian society. The discomfort we feel in cases involving prominent figures is data worth examining in ourselves. It tells us something about whose trustworthiness we grant automatically, and why children often struggle to be believed when they disclose abuse by someone the community admires.
Understanding online sexual exploitation is not a specialist task. It is a civic one.
Sources: Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), accce.gov.au; Australian Federal Police, afp.gov.au; Bravehearts, bravehearts.org.au; eSafety Commissioner, esafety.gov.au; Destiny Rescue Australia; ABC News. Statistics current as of ACCCE 2024/25 financial year report.
If this topic has raised concerns for you or someone you know, support is available via Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800), Bravehearts (1800 272 831), or Lifeline (13 11 14).