A woman uses her computer keyboard to type while surfing the internet in North Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday, December, 19, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Content warning: The following story deals with the subject of suicide. If you or a loved one is at risk of self-harm, call or text Suicide Crisis Helpline at 988.
New data is helping sound the alarm on the dangers of young people being online.
A report from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) shows that from June 2022 to the end of December 2025, the organization has received 127 reports of extreme violence on the internet, and the numbers have been growing steadily.
(Courtesy The Canadian Centre for Child Protection) *C3P began tracking cases in June 2022.
What’s concerning is that 75 of the reported victims are children — the youngest being just 11 years old. Girls account for 84 per cent of the victims.
The report includes disturbing details of what’s being asked of victims, including aggressive, coercive tactics, blackmail, and doxing.
Other demands include:
Self-harm (e.g., body mutilation, suicide attempts),
Disordered eating behaviours (e.g., purging),
Sexual and/or degrading acts (e.g., against themselves or to another child),
Acts of violence (e.g., harming a pet),
Advocate Carol Todd knows the issue all too well. Her 15-year-old daughter, Amanda, took her own life in Port Coquitlam, B.C. in October 2012, after being repeatedly harassed and blackmailed online by a man overseas.
“It’s sad and heartbreaking because what happened to Amanda happened 15 years ago, and she died 13 years ago, and with all the work that’s been done in awareness and education, you would have hoped the numbers go down.”
“Learn about what AI can and can’t do and take that time to have a second look about what you post out there.”
Todd says it’s not just the victims who are sad, but often the predators as well, and says AI is complicating things, pointing out that any image shared online can be doctored to make the subject appear drastically different, including nude.
“It’s just scary out there. The best thing for all of us to do is to learn about what AI can and can’t do and take that time to have a second look about what you post out there.”
Carol Todd holds a photo of her late teenage daughter Amanda Todd, who died by suicide in 2012, and the necklace she was wearing in the school photo, outside B.C. Supreme Court after sentencing for the Dutch man who was accused of extorting and harassing her daughter, in New Westminster, B.C., on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Todd is calling for increased education on the topic within schools, the community, and among parents and families.
“Just take a moment to see what’s going on and learn about what’s going on so they can have those conversations with their kids.”
She says the mental health toll being victimized takes on a person, especially a child or teen, is difficult to process.
“The victimization causes so much stress and distress. And that’s what’s sad, because that distress stays with you. It becomes trauma, and then we have to look at how we’re going to look after that, but we can’t look after that until someone comes forward and says, ‘This is happening to me.’ And there’s a whole component of that of shame and judgement, but there needs to be less shame and judgement.”
She wants people to keep in mind that, as shocking as the numbers may be, those are only the cases that are being reported.
“The numbers could be higher,” Todd tells 1130 NewsRadio.
“It might happen to a friend. It might happen to a relative. It might happen to a neighbour.”
As a result of the reported incidents, C3P says it has forwarded more than 110 reports to police and issued “nearly 40 notices to online platforms.”