Nearly four in ten minors recall watching videos or interviews explaining how to make money selling sexual content online.
We’re not talking about a distant danger or something that “could happen,” but rather a real, ongoing presence within your digital experience.
This is exactly what the latest report warns of. Save the children.
According to a survey of more than 1,000 young people, 2.5% admitted that, as minors, they had received some kind of gift, money or favor in exchange for intimate photos or videos.
What does this mean? One in 40 young people have crossed the line into digital sexual exploitation before they turn 18. They decided to sell their privacy for money.
Many who haven’t done this know someone who has: More than one in seven young people say they have someone close to them who moved into these dynamics as a minor.
If we look at intentions, the number rises. About 20% know someone who has considered or tried using platforms like OnlyFans or Sugar dating To make money.
What is most surprising is that the majority do not see this situation as exploitation.
In reality, Only 28% consider selling sexual content online to be a form of exploitation; That is, seven out of ten young people do not know it clearly in this way.
Nearly a third believe it is a legitimate way to make money, and a similar proportion see it as acceptable for those who decide to do so, even though they wouldn’t.
This is combined with shine Of these platforms: Nearly half of young people have seen ads on networks that offer Sugar dating As something positive or attractive, especially among girls, where this percentage reaches 49%.
Drawing prepared by Save the Children.
In terms of gender, the figures show a completely different situation for men and women.
Nearly four in ten girls received direct messages from strangers, And invite them to sell intimate content or engage in similar dynamicsAnd more than double that in the case of boys.
The distribution of how these young people use these apps is quite uneven.
Usually young girls Creative people Or exposed bodies, while boys tend to be the consumers and those who pay for this content.
Save the Children warns that this digital hyperexposure is a clear form of exploitation, although it is often presented as a voluntary or mandated decision by minors themselves.
That is why they are asking the government that the upcoming organic law on the protection of minors in digital environments forces platforms to implement strict age controls, content filters, and advertising bans in these spaces that normalize these practices.
In addition, they insist that compulsory education is necessary so that teenagers learn to “identify risks and build healthy, equal and safe relationships in the digital world.”