NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 3 — More than one in four internet-using children aged 12 to 17 in Kenya were subjected to at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse, a UNICEF report says.
The study estimates that 26.83 per cent of internet-using Kenyan children experienced such abuse in the year preceding the survey, equivalent to about 1.29 million children.
Kenya’s prevalence was broadly in line with the 26.8 per cent average across six Eastern and Southern African countries covered by the study — Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda.
UNICEF cautions that the regional figure represents only participating countries and should not be treated as an estimate for the entire region.
The report, Through Children’s Eyes: How Digital Technologies Enable Child Sexual Abuse, found that most reported incidents in Kenya involved people children already knew.
Sixty-six per cent of Kenyan incidents involved someone known to the child, compared with 17 per cent involving strangers and 18 per cent where the perpetrator was unidentified.
UNICEF says the finding challenges the perception that online abuse is primarily perpetrated by strangers.
“Much of the harm comes from people children know.”
Social media was the most common digital environment in which the abuse occurred, accounting for 61 per cent of incidents in Kenya, while gaming environments accounted for 11.6 per cent. Another 17.9 per cent involved an in-person setting where technology facilitated the abuse.
Across the 21 countries, social media accounted for 59 per cent of reported incidents, with gaming environments accounting for 14 per cent.
The report says digital platforms can enable abuse through features that allow perpetrators to exploit children’s trust and maintain contact.
“Platform features, functions and design enable trust to be exploited.”
The findings also reveal a significant gap in disclosure and formal reporting in Kenya.
About 32.7 per cent of Kenyan incidents were not disclosed to anyone, compared with a 31 per cent average across the six Eastern and Southern African countries.
Among disclosed incidents, only 1 per cent were reported to police, 0.4 per cent to social workers and 0.6 per cent through helplines in Kenya.
UNICEF says children were much more likely to turn to friends and family than formal support mechanisms.
“Fewer than 1 per cent of cases were reported to the police, a social worker, or through a helpline.”
The report also found a statistically significant association between technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse and higher anxiety among Kenyan children. Kenya recorded an adjusted mean difference of 0.08 in standardized anxiety scores among children subjected to the abuse.
UNICEF cautions that the wellbeing analysis establishes an association rather than proving that the abuse caused poorer mental-health outcomes.
The Kenya findings are based primarily on data collected in 2020–2021 under the first round of the Disrupting Harm research programme. The wider report draws on nationally representative surveys of about 21,000 internet-using children aged 12–17 across 21 countries, with data collected between 2020 and 2025.
UNICEF says stronger safeguards are needed, including safer platform design, privacy protections, restrictions on unsolicited adult contact and better pathways for children to report abuse and obtain support.
