Online sexual violence affects 1 in 5 adolescents in Brazil
One in five Brazilian teens has been a victim of some form of sexual violence online. This represents about three million young people who experienced one of the situations investigated at least once in a one-year period when they were aged 12 to 17. 
The alarming data come from the report Disrupting Harm in Brazil, with the subheading Enfrentando a violência sexual contra crianças facilitada pela tecnologia (“Confronting Technology-based Sexual Violence Against Children”), released Wednesday (Mar. 4) by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with the international organization ECPAT and Interpol, and funded by Safe Online.
The survey asked families across Brazil about experiences of sexual abuse and exploitation through digital technologies. This includes various situations in which digital media are used to groom, extort, produce, store, or disseminate abusive material, occurring entirely in the virtual environment, or in person combined with the use of the internet.
In 66 percent of the reports, violence occurred only in digital media – mainly via social networks, messaging apps, or online gaming platforms. Instagram and WhatsApp appear to be the tools most used by abusers to approach victims. Luiza Teixeira, UNICEF’s Protection Against Violence specialist in Brazil, explained what the most common avenues in such cases are.
“Perpetrators often seek out victims on platforms that allow open or public profiles. After making contact, they build a connection with the victim and establish a relationship of trust,” she said.
“Once they have gained the victim’s trust, abusers typically move to closed chat platforms, where they feel safer to carry out the abuse or exploitation,” she added.
The most common form of violence – reported by 14 percent of respondents – was exposure to unsolicited sexual content. According to the study, this is a strategy commonly used by abusers to gradually accustom the victim to sexual content and enable predators to gradually escalate their abuse. Further findings include:
- 9% of adolescents have been asked to share pictures of their private parts;
- 5% have been offered money or gifts in exchange for intimate pictures;
- 4% have been threatened with the disclosure of intimate content;
- 4% have been propositioned for sexual conversations;
- 3% have had intimate pictures shared without their consent;
- 3% have been offered money or gifts in exchange for sexual encounters;
- 3% have had their pictures manipulated using AI to create fake sexual content;
- 2% have been threatened or blackmailed so they would perform sexual acts.
The survey also found that in almost half of the cases (49%), violence was committed by someone known to the victim – mainly friends, family members, and boyfriends or suitors. Considering only these cases, 52 percent of victims first came into contact with their aggressor online, but 27 percent were approached at school and 11 percent in their own homes.
The survey also shows that one-third of adolescents who suffered some form of violence did not tell anyone about what happened, mainly because they did not know where to seek help or whom they could turn to. The other main reasons given for their silence were feelings of embarrassment and shame, and the fear of not being believed, in addition to fear of threats from the aggressor.
In Luiza Teixeira’s view, these data reinforce that constant support is essential at this stage of life.
“We notice the feeling that, if she tells anyone, no one will believe her, no one will take it seriously. And we are talking about people with special developmental needs, who suffer a profound impact when faced with this type of violence,” she stated.
Lack of information is also an issue – 15 percent of victims said they were unaware that these situations qualify as a crime, and 12 percent felt that what happened was not “serious enough” to be reported, which, according to the UNICEF expert, shows the normalization and trivialization of online violence.
The survey also shows how vulnerable adolescents are online. Access to digital media is virtually universal among respondents, with 45 percent able to go online at any time, while 12 percent are restricted by their parents and 14 percent by their teachers. With such intense use, 37 percent of adolescents ended up being accidentally exposed to sexual content, mainly in social media posts and ads.
