The digital world is becoming increasingly unsafe for children and young people. Data from the past year, has prompted child protection organisations to sound an alarm for 2023 as a ‘record year’ for child sexual abuse reports with analysts finding more child sexual imagery than any year previously – more than 275,000 reports -up 8% from the previous year. 

New trends emerge, such as financial sexual extortion, while threats like online grooming and child ‘self-generated’ sexual material continue to grow. Additionally, new emerging technologies like generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Extended Reality (ER) pose new risks for the safety of children online.  

To combat the growing threats in the digital space, Safe Online launched a global call for proposals in 2023. After a rigorous and thorough selection process, 23 grantees have been selected to receive USD 10 million. The new investment grows Safe Online’s investment portfolio to USD 100 million across 106 projects with impact in 100 countries and accelerates Safe Online’s globally important role as a catalyst for new solutions to combat digital harms. 

The investment award projects under a ‘whole system’ approach by supporting work across multiple sectors to achieve maximum impact.