VIJAYAWADA: Nearly 70% of all cybercrimes registered against children in AP in 2024 involved Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), according to an analysis of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data by Child Rights and You (CRY).
The findings were released on Monday alongside the launch of ‘Ting Tong’—a nationwide public campaign designed to foster safer digital behaviours and encourage children, parents, and educators to pause before engaging online.
While registered cybercrimes against children in AP declined to 55 cases in 2024 from a peak of 124 in 2022, the overall caseload remains drastically higher than in 2017, when the State recorded just a single case.
Nationally, AP ranked 11th in total child cybercrimes, accounting for 3% of the country’s total registered offences.
The broader national trend reflects a 20-fold surge in child-targeted cybercrimes over the past seven years, jumping from 88 cases in 2017 to 1,753 in 2024, with CSAM-related offences expanding 157-fold across India.
The composition of cases in AP underlines online sexual exploitation as the dominant threat facing minors. Out of the 55 cases recorded statewide in 2024, 38 fell under NCRB category of cyber pornography and publishing obscene sexual materials depicting children.
The remaining offences included seven cases of cyber stalking and bullying, two cases of cyber blackmailing or harassment, and eight categorised under child cybercrimes.
District-level figures show a concentration of CSAM offences along coastal belt, led by Nellore with nine cases and Kakinada with eight. Together, they accounted for 45% of CSAM cases recorded in AP.
East Godavari and Krishna recorded four cases each, followed by Kurnool and Nandyal with three cases apiece, Eluru with two, and single cases in five other districts.
CRY South Regional Director John Roberts stressed the need to boost children’s online safety, noting that many hesitate to report digital harm due to fear of punishment or social stigma. The ‘Ting Tong’ campaign uses a phone notification as a warning, urging users to pause before sharing online content.
The concerns align with AP proposals for age-restricted social media access for under-16s through DigiLocker age tokens. Furthermore, the State has deployed ‘AP Cyber Guard’, while integrating digital monitoring into the SHAKTHI architecture linked with the 1098 Child Helpline, 1930 Cyber Helpline.