Digital Babylon
The numbers behind the presentation
Numbers used in the presentation
Scale, not a debate. Open a figure for the source and the caveat.
99%of children ages 8–17 go online
Ofcom, Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes, 2025/26
U.S. companion: Pew, Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024 — 96% of U.S. teens 13–17 use the internet daily; 46% almost constantly; 95% have smartphone access.
~138Mdaily active accounts on Roblox (Q3 2026)
Roblox Q3 2026 shareholder letter, SEC Exhibit 99.1, reported 29 October 2026
Accounts, not unique children. Nearly 34 billion hours engaged that quarter. Not unique victims.
1 in 4children face online solicitation
Thorn, Commodified Sexual Interactions Involving Minors, April 2025
1 in 4 received a valued-exchange sexual solicitation before 18. Thorn Youth Perspectives 2025: 1 in 4 minors 9–17 report an online sexual interaction. Global companion: Childlight / University of Edinburgh 2026, about 27%.
21.3MCyberTipline reports in 2025
NCMEC 2025 CyberTipline Report — 21,351,493 reports
Containing 61.8 million files. Nearly all from platforms; about 170,000 from the public, including 5,700 from victims directly.
How online children already are
This is not a youth-group subset. Almost every child in the age range lives online.
78% / 91%of children 8–17 have their own phone; 91% can get on one
Ofcom 2025/26
56% → 83%own a phone at age 10; that rises to 83% at age 11
Ofcom 2025/26
40% / 1 in 4of U.S. children have their own tablet by age 2; by age 8, 1 in 4 has a cellphone
Common Sense Media, Census of Media Use by Kids Age 0–8, 2025
86%of kids 9–17 have used AI; about 1 in 4 use it daily
Common Sense Media, AI Use by Tweens and Teens, 2026
3h 36maverage time online each day, ages 8–14, not counting game consoles
Ofcom
How big Roblox is
Roblox is not a corner of the internet. Treat any game with open chat the way you would treat a public park.
~138Mdaily active accounts in Q3 2026, with nearly 34 billion hours engaged
Roblox Q3 2026 shareholder letter, SEC Exhibit 99.1, reported 29 October 2026
Accounts, not unique children, and not unique victims. Earlier quarter figures — 123 million accounts and 29 billion hours in Q2, 132 million in Q1 — are older.
2.7 hrsengaged per Roblox daily active user per day; 123.9 billion hours in 2025
Roblox Form 10-K, year ended December 31, 2025
65,381CyberTipline reports filed by Roblox in 2025 (24,522 in 2024)
NCMEC Reports by ESP / Senate Judiciary disclosure
Reports measure what the platform flagged — not a census of confirmed offenders. NCMEC told the Senate in 2026 that Roblox is a primary place suspects meet and recruit minors, including sadistic-online-exploitation groups such as 764, and that Roblox’s own reports of that harm were extremely low next to what the public was reporting. After oversight, NCMEC said in August 2026 that Roblox had improved victim identification, annotations, and that reporting.
34%of age-checked accounts are under 13. 37% are ages 13–17. 29% are over 18
Roblox Q3 2026 shareholder letter, SEC Exhibit 99.1
Among age-checked accounts, seven days ended 30 September 2026. 64% of global daily active accounts had age-checked. Over-18 users are the fastest-growing cohort: 29% of global age-checked daily accounts, 37% in the U.S. About 30% of U.S. 13–17-year-olds use Roblox daily. These are accounts, not unique children.
How often children are solicited
Solicitation is common, not rare. These are what young people reported — not CyberTipline volume.
36%asked, before 18, to send sexual imagery by someone they knew only online; most asks within a week (79%)
Thorn, April 2025
1 in 4minors 9–17 reported an online sexual interaction, including ~1 in 6 of ages 9–12
Thorn, Youth Perspectives on Online Safety, 2025
22%of those interactions involved someone the child believed was an adult
Thorn Youth Perspectives 2025
33%of boys ages 9–12 reported an online sexual interaction in the 2024 wave
Thorn Youth Perspectives, 2024 wave
1 in 5who had an online sexual interaction told no one; 62% turned to a trusted adult
Thorn youth surveys, 2024–2025
65%of minors invited by an online-only contact to move from a public chat into a private conversation on another platform
Thorn, Online Grooming report, 2022
National reports in 2025
The 2023–2024 drop in the headline total was partly bundling and uneven platform reporting. The 2025 story inside the total is the surge in online-enticement and trafficking reports after the REPORT Act.
21,351,493CyberTipline reports in 2025 (20.5M in 2024; 36.2M in 2023)
NCMEC 2025 CyberTipline Report
1,413,347online-enticement reports in 2025 — up 158% from 546,333 in 2024
NCMEC 2025
Part of the jump is the 2024 REPORT Act, which requires platforms to report enticement the way they already report abuse material.
113,530child-sex-trafficking reports in 2025 — up 323% from 26,823 in 2024
NCMEC 2025
50,000+financially motivated sextortion reports in 2025 — about 137 per day (from ~36,000 / ~100 per day in 2024)
NCMEC, 2025/26 sextortion data releases
75,000+sextortion submissions to FBI IC3 in 2025; more than 5,700 involving minors referred to NCMEC
FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report
400,000+CyberTipline reports in 2025 with a generative-AI nexus
NCMEC 2025
53,000+reports escalated in 2025 as urgent / child in imminent danger
NCMEC 2025 data page
Reports by app in 2025
High numbers can mean a huge user base, better detection, or both — not a ranking of which app is evil. Parents still need to know the rooms their children actually enter.
4.91MFacebook
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
3.67MInstagram
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
3.62MTikTok
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
2.36MWhatsApp
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
1.46MGoogle
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
752,000Snapchat
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
490,000Discord
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
65,381Roblox
NCMEC 2025 ESP table
The 764 network
A real network. On 28 October 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel said more than 500 subjects are under investigation, with all 56 field offices mobilized, and that 764-related arrests rose nearly 500% in 2025. Prosecutors brought the first U.S. terrorism charge against a member. Canada has listed the network as a terrorist entity. You do not need their playbook. Isolation plus unmonitored chat is the open door.
Nearly 500%increase in 764-related arrests in 2025. They look for children on sites built for them, including Roblox
FBI Director Kash Patel, 28 October 2026
Law-enforcement figures, not a complete census.
80%+of the people involved, victims and offenders, are under 25. Most of it is other teenagers
FBI, via InvestigateTV, Sept. 25, 2026
29 countsin the first U.S. case seeking terrorism charges against a 764 member (Baron Martin, Arizona), including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists
U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, reported Sept. 25, 2026
10–14usual ages in the Canadian cases. A 17-year-old in Lethbridge was charged Sept. 28, 2026. Canada listed the network as a terrorist entity in 2025
RCMP via CBC News, Sept. 28, 2026
9–17usual ages targeted in earlier U.S. cases. In Utah, mainly 10–17
FBI Boston open letter; Deseret News, Feb. 24, 2026
500+subjects under investigation. All 56 FBI field offices are mobilized
FBI Director Kash Patel, 28 October 2026
Law-enforcement figures, not a complete census. Not a count of every child harmed. Earlier public counts — 350+ people in 2025, and 450+ in February 2026 coverage — are older.
Under 25is the usual age of the offenders. They are often male
FBI Boston open letter
Figures checked 1 November 2026. Reports and daily active accounts are not unique children.
If you need to report
NCMEC CyberTipline
report.cybertip.orgSuspected child sexual exploitation. The national funnel to law enforcement.
Take It Down
takeitdown.ncmec.orgHelp remove intimate images of a minor from the internet.
FBI tips
tips.fbi.govOnline predators, networks, anything that may cross state lines.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
ic3.govSextortion and related internet crime complaints.
Immediate danger
Call 911
If a child is in immediate danger, call 911. Local law enforcement first. Then the CyberTipline. Over-reporting is better than hoping it is nothing.