Sextortion: a national campaign to break the silence and encourage young people to contact 3018

Sextortion in figures

A national campaign to better prevent sextortion

The’sexual blackmail, or «sextortion», is a form of blackmail that involves threatening to publish intimate photos or videos of a person in order to obtain money, new sexual content or to force her to carry out certain actions.

The material used to carry out this blackmail is not necessarily images sent voluntarily by the victim. It may also have been obtained following a hack of an account, recorded without the victim’s knowledge, misappropriated or even generated using artificial intelligence.

To raise awareness amongst teenagers and enable them to recognise these tactics more quickly, CIIVISE and the Government are rolling out a national campaign aimed at young people aged 11 to 17, particularly on TikTok and Snapchat.

In particular, the campaign highlights the various strategies used by abusers: making contact with a young person, building a relationship of trust, moving the conversation to a private messaging service, obtaining intimate content, and then making threats or resorting to blackmail.

Breaking the silence and the guilt

Sextortion often relies on isolating the victim. Faced with the threat that images will be shared with their loved ones or on social media, a young person may be afraid to speak out, may feel that they are to blame, or may try to deal with the situation on their own.

Sending a photo, trusting someone online or responding to a request never places the blame on the victim.

Putting sextortion into words and raising awareness of how it works also helps to combat the stigma and encourage young people to seek help as soon as possible.

3018: What to do in the event of sextortion

At the heart of the campaign is a key message aimed at young people: Don’t keep it to yourself – ask for help.

The 3018 helpline is the national service for young people who are victims, witnesses or perpetrators of cyberbullying and online abuse, as well as for their families and professionals.

In the event of sextortion, its teams can, in particular:

• listen to and support the victim without judgement; ;
• to help them understand the situation and identify the steps they need to take; ;
• assist them with the preservation of evidence and reporting incidents; ;
• refer them to the relevant services where the situation requires it; ;
• submit reports to platforms to request the removal of harmful accounts or content.

Sextortion: what are the right steps to take?

When a young person finds themselves in this situation, giving in to blackmail never guarantees that the threats will stop. On the contrary, the perpetrator may continue or escalate their demands.

The right reflexes to adopt:

• Do not send any money or new content 
• stop responding to threats 
• keep evidence: screenshots, messages, usernames, profiles and any payment requests 
• report the account and the conversation on the relevant platform 
• block the author after saving the relevant information 
• secure your accounts and change your passwords if necessary 
• talk to an adult or someone you trust as soon as possible 
• call 3018 for support

Providing better information to enable young people to seek help

Through its involvement in this campaign, the e-Enfance / 3018 Association is pursuing a key objective: to raise awareness of sextortion so that young people facing this form of violence can recognise it, understand that they are not to blame, and know immediately who to turn to.

Because silence and fear only strengthen the hold that abusers have over their victims, the first step must always be the same: speak out and ask for help.