Reports alleging online child sexual exploitation have increased by over 35 percent from 2020 to 2021, according to the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The private non-profit, established by the U.S. Congress in 1984 and funded in part by the Department of Justice, said that its CyberTipline received 29.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation—an increase of 35.9 percent from 2020, and also the most ever the NCMEC has received in a single year. Over 99 percent of the reports were those that alleged suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM), legally referred to as child pornography. In 2020, the organization received 21,669,264 reports of suspected child pornography (possession, manufacture, and distribution), while in 2021, it received 29,309,106 reports—an increase of 35.3 percent. “These reports concern the sexual exploitation of children around the globe. We share this data to continue building awareness of the insidious nature of child sexual exploitation occurring online,” Michelle DeLaune, …