A simple Instagram photo of a sleeping baby — arms and legs relaxed, peaceful — can draw likes and warm comments. But when parents post intimate images of their children publicly, those pictures can be copied, edited and repurposed in harmful ways. The latest annual report from Jugendschutz.net, the German government-funded body that monitors online youth protection, documents how freely accessible children’s photos are often sexualized, used for bullying or placed in degrading contexts.
Jugendschutz.net logged more than 15,000 instances of sexualization, hate and violence in 2025. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Stefan Glaser, the agency’s head. According to the report, 93% of the recorded cases involved sexual violence against children; 4% were linked to political extremism. The findings also include extreme expressions of hatred and violent fantasies, often aimed at girls and women.
The agency monitors platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and WhatsApp and notifies providers and law enforcement about violations. The report highlights surprising sources of risk: music streaming services such as Spotify have become venues for far-right content, sexualized material involving minors and playlists promoting self-harm or suicidal messages.
Worries about artificial intelligence are growing. Manipulated images and AI-generated content can merge the artificial with the real, distorting perceptions and spreading extremist or degrading narratives. Jugendschutz.net has found chatbots and generative AI increasingly used to simulate relationships or advice. In some cases, bots are configured as underage characters that describe sexual acts or otherwise behave in sexualized ways — a particularly alarming trend.
Technical gaps make these problems worse. Filters and security settings often fail, and age limits are easy to bypass. Snapchat, for example, continues to host videos showing very young children despite rules intended to restrict certain features to older users. Reporting tools offered to ordinary users produce little effect: providers acted on only 2% of complaints submitted by regular users, while interventions by official bodies such as Jugendschutz.net nearly always prompted action.
Germany’s Youth Minister Karin Prien described the situation as an “alarming reality” in which children and adolescents are largely left undefended online. She called for “safety, protection, and clear rules” that keep pace with technology, and said those who want to protect children must be willing to confront powerful digital interests.
European law has already begun to raise the bar. The Digital Services Act (DSA), in force across the EU since 2024, requires platforms to ensure a high level of safety and privacy for minors. Providers must analyze risks, design services with children in mind (for example by defaulting young users’ profiles to private) and adjust recommendation systems to avoid reinforcing addictive or harmful content. The proposed Digital Fairness Act aims to further curb addictive design practices and limit certain uses of AI in social media.
But implementing technical safeguards is difficult. Reliable, hard-to-circumvent age verification methods are still lacking. Australia introduced a social-media age restriction in December 2025, but early studies suggest more than half of under-16s remain active on major platforms. Platforms resist measures that could reduce engagement because polarization and emotionally charged content drive attention and revenue. Regulations are frequently challenged in court, and legal processes can take years.
The report underlines a central pattern: platforms tend to act only when pressured by official bodies or public scrutiny. That leaves caregivers, educators and children themselves to cope with gaps in protection. Jugendschutz.net and other observers argue that stronger enforcement, better technical solutions for age verification, redesigned platform features (for example limiting autoplay, push notifications and addictive recommendations) and mandatory default privacy settings for minors are needed.
Preventing misuse of children’s images also requires awareness: parents and guardians should think carefully before posting identifiable photos publicly, use privacy settings, and teach children about digital risks. At the same time, lawmakers and regulators must close loopholes, accelerate oversight of AI-driven tools and ensure platforms bear clear responsibility for child safety.
The Jugendschutz.net report is a stark reminder that technology that connects us can also expose children to new and evolving harms. Addressing those harms will require coordinated action by platforms, regulators and families — and a willingness to change profitable design practices that put young people at risk.
This article was originally written in German.