US buyers spent $7m on child abuse material from Philippines — Report

In 2022, an estimated 475,000 children in the Philippines were trafficked to create child sexual exploitation material, driven by foreign demand, particularly from the United States, according to a 2023 study by International Justice Mission and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab. CNN's report revealed that children were coerced by family members and facilitators to produce sexual content for foreign customers, predominantly men in the U.S., who paid to watch the abuse through livestreams and private online groups.

Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council figures showed that Americans spent over $7 million on illegal child abuse content from the Philippines between 2020 and 2022. The investigation documented how some children were introduced to online sexual exploitation by relatives seeking financial gain, facilitated by encrypted messaging applications and livestreaming services that allowed the abuse to cross borders.

One survivor, Kate, recalled being 13 when her adoptive older sister introduced her to online sexual exploitation during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing her fear of the men potentially traveling to the Philippines to assault her. Another survivor, Isa, described being forced by her aunties to participate in livestreamed sexual abuse while she was a child.

Court records and interviews documented similar cases, with some perpetrators arrested in Switzerland and the UK. CNN uncovered the identities of over a dozen consumers of child sexual abuse material produced in the Philippines, primarily from the U.S., the U.K., and Sweden. Law enforcement agencies struggle to prosecute these crimes due to the use of encrypted messaging apps and livestreaming platforms, which make it difficult to gather evidence.

The redeployment of investigators to immigration enforcement duties has also hindered some investigations in the U.S.