In Canada, children are being sexually victimized online at an alarming rate. The daily stream of police and media reports available to the general public provides some insight into the nature of these harms: nation-wide police operations lead to mass arrests for online child sexual abuse and exploitation material (“CSAEM”) related crimes,2 thousands of boys and young men have been targets of financial sexual extortion tactics, and artificial intelligence (“AI”) apps and platforms that create realistic looking nudes are being weaponized against girls in Canadian schools. In terms of scope, it is estimated that nearly one third of 13- to 18-year-olds in Canada have experienced some form of online sexual violence,5 a figure that is generally consistent with estimates from other countries.
