Safety Spotters Family Online Safety Figures
Safety Spotters Family Online Safety Figures brings together 16 figures about children's safety online, each taken from the named primary source and checked on the date shown. Version 2026-11-03.
Key figures
- 16 figures from 10 primary sources, each checked against the source text. #
- Smartphone bans in school rose from 30% of education systems to 40% in one year. #
- Online enticement reports to NCMEC grew by 300%+ between 2021 and 2023. #
- US teens using ChatGPT for schoolwork: 26%, double the share a year earlier. #
Figures that parents, teachers and school leaders keep needing about children's safety online, each taken from the named primary source and dated when it was checked. Every row links to its source and to its own place on this page. Download the full set: CSV JSON XLSX. Each downloaded row carries its source and a link back to its row here.
Reuse: you are welcome to quote these figures in articles, lessons and policies. Please credit Safety Spotters and link to the row you used, and check the original source before you rely on a number.
| Topic | Figure | What it says | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Sextortion and online enticement | 186,800+ | Reports of online enticement, the category that includes sextortion, received by the US CyberTipline in 2023: more than 186,800. | National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), Sextortion checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Sextortion and online enticement | 300%+ | Growth in online enticement reports to the CyberTipline between 2021 and 2023: more than 300%. | NCMEC, Sextortion checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Sextortion and online enticement | 456,000+ | Online enticement reports received by NCMEC in 2024 up to 5 October: more than 456,000. | NCMEC, Sextortion checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Sextortion and online enticement | 26,718 | Global financially motivated sextortion cases reported to NCMEC in 2023: 26,718, up from 10,731 in 2022. | National Crime Agency (UK), NCA issues urgent warning about sextortion checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Sextortion and online enticement | 91% | Share of victims in UK sextortion cases dealt with by the Internet Watch Foundation in 2023 who were male: 91%. | National Crime Agency (UK), citing the Internet Watch Foundation checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Phones in schools | 30% | Education systems worldwide with smartphone bans in school in their laws or policies at the end of 2023: 60, or 30%. | UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, To ban or not to ban? checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Phones in schools | 40% | Education systems with smartphone bans in school at the end of 2024: 79, or 40%, after 19 more were added during 2024. | UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, To ban or not to ban? checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Phones in schools | 1 September 2026 | England's guidance on prohibiting mobile phones in schools became statutory on 29 June 2026; schools should follow it from 1 September 2026. | Department for Education (England), Mobile phones in schools checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Screen time | Under 2: none | WHO guidance: sedentary screen time is not recommended for babies under 1 or for 1-year-olds. For 2-year-olds it should be no more than 1 hour a day, and less is better. | World Health Organization, guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Screen time | 1 hour | WHO guidance for children aged 3 to 4: sedentary screen time should be no more than 1 hour a day, and less is better. | World Health Organization, guidelines for children under 5 checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | AI and school | 26% | US teens aged 13 to 17 who say they have used ChatGPT for schoolwork: 26%, up from 13% in 2023. | Pew Research Center, About a quarter of U.S. teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | AI and school | 31% | US students in grades 11 and 12 who say they use ChatGPT for schoolwork: 31%, against 20% in grades 7 and 8. | Pew Research Center checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | AI chatbots and companions | nearly 3 in 4 | US teens who have used AI companions: nearly three in four, and half use them regularly. | Common Sense Media, Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Deepfakes | almost half | Children aged 8 to 15, and people aged 16 and over, who believed they had come across a deepfake at least once in the last six months: almost half of each group. | Ofcom, Deepfake Defences: Mitigating the Harms of Deceptive Deepfakes checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Scam texts | 93.3k URLs | UK scam text reports forwarded to 7726 have led to scams being removed across 93.3k web addresses, as of September 2026. | National Cyber Security Centre (UK), Report a scam text message checked 2026-11-03 |
| # | Privacy and data | 15 | Standards that online services likely to be used by children in the UK must meet under the ICO's Children's code: 15. | Information Commissioner's Office (UK), Children's code guidance checked 2026-11-03 |
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