Child safety experts and law enforcement officials are warning of a sharp global rise in "sadistic online exploitation," in which predators coerce vulnerable teenagers into producing child sexual abuse material or harming themselves and others. Perpetrators typically target victims through social media and online games, initially soliciting explicit imagery before using it as leverage to force further abuse, self-harm or even suicide attempts. The trend is significant because it represents an escalation beyond traditional grooming, with offenders deliberately seeking out already-vulnerable children and inflicting extreme, sadistic forms of coercion.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 3,000 reports of this abuse worldwide in 2025, a 125% rise on the previous year, though experts say this reflects only a fraction of actual cases since reporting depends on detected material. Predators, often teens or young adults themselves operating in online networks, recruit through games such as Roblox and Minecraft or by targeting social media groups focused on mental health issues like eating disorders. Documented abuses include forcing children to cut themselves, harm pets, or carve perpetrators' usernames into their skin, with one recent US case seeing a 21-year-old sentenced to 30 years for exploiting ten minors.