World Childhood Foundation, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, has released a new report, Follow the Money, exploring how financial data can be used to identify and disrupt the live streaming of child sexual abuse. The report focuses on the Philippines, a known global hotspot for these crimes, where up to half a million children may have been affected in 2022 alone. It examines how financial transaction analysis can help uncover both perpetrators and facilitators involved in these exploitative networks.
Examining financial data’s role in tackling the live streaming of child sexual abuse.
While previous efforts have largely concentrated on identifying perpetrators through conviction records, this study shifts attention to the financial transactions linked to facilitators—those who organize and profit from the abuse. By tracing these transactions, investigators can expose broader networks of offenders, including previously unidentified facilitators and perpetrators.
The report also raises critical questions about the potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) in detecting and disrupting financial flows linked to child sexual abuse. AI-driven analysis could help financial institutions distinguish between legitimate transfers and those tied to exploitation. However, significant challenges remain, including barriers to data access and the need for stronger collaboration between financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement.
”This report reminds us that the tools to fight back exist, but the will to coordinate must catch up.”
— Paula Guillet de Monthoux, Secretary General, World Childhood Foundation
Follow the Money highlights promising approaches while underscoring the urgent need for greater investment in technology, intelligence-sharing, and policy frameworks. The findings reinforce that identifying and intercepting these financial flows is not only feasible—it is necessary. Strengthening information-sharing protocols, supporting more consistent reporting of suspicious activities, and applying advanced data analysis are critical steps in protecting children. While preliminary in its findings, the report demonstrates that the technology and data exist to broaden our understanding of these crimes and to intervene sooner by tracking the financial traces they inevitably leave behind.
The report was presented to a select audience, emphasizing the need for collaboration to combat financial crimes enabling child exploitation. Handelsbanken, a longstanding partner of Childhood, reaffirmed its commitment to this cause, with Erik Kugelberg, Head of Intelligence, Risk, and Data Analysis, stating: “For us, the fight against financial crime is not just about risk-based analyses and regulatory requirements—it is also a matter of culture and values.”
”For us, the fight against financial crime is not just about risk-based analyses and regulatory requirements—it is also a matter of culture and values.”
Martin Nordh, Founder and CEO of Acuminor, a tech company specializing in risk assessments and controls against financial crime, highlighted the urgency of a unified approach: ”When law enforcement, the private sector, and NGOs don’t speak the same language, critical data gets lost, investigations slow down, and offenders slip through the cracks. By automating data, we can act faster, scale solutions, and close the gaps that allow these crimes to continue. The high cost of fragmentation demands a common approach to protect children more effectively, starting with a shared language, as made clear in this report and the subsequent discussion.”
With the scale of child sexual abuse live streaming at devastating levels, increased research and resources are essential to dismantling the networks enabling this exploitation. This issue must be given higher priority, and greater collaboration between financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement is not just needed—it is long overdue.
This report was developed as part of the Stella Polaris initiative, Childhood’s hub that unites children’s rights and AI to coordinate and intensify AI-related initiatives to combat child sexual abuse. Stella Polaris is funded by the Swedish Postcode Lottery.
Access the full report here.
For further information please reach out to Charles Mingo Bennström, Press and PR for World Childhood Foundation
charles.bennstrom@childhood.org
+46 (0) 73-422 04 42
