REPORT AND HARMFUL CONTENT- TOOL
Report Harmful Content: Key Insights from 2025
In 2025, Report Harmful Content (RHC) supported 1,302 individuals affected by online harm. While this represents a 32% decrease in cases compared to 2024, the reduction must be viewed in the context of reduced operational capacity throughout the year due to funding constraints.
Persistent Harms Remain a Concern
Harassment was the most commonly reported harm, accounting for 13% of all cases and increasing by 5% compared to the previous year. Privacy violations followed at 11%, continuing an upward trend driven by issues such as image misuse, the sharing of personal information, and other boundary-crossing online behaviours.
Bullying and adult content on social media each represented 9% of reported harms. Although bullying saw a slight decrease, reports relating to adult content increased by 6%, highlighting ongoing concerns around exposure to inappropriate material online.
Who Is Seeking Support?
Young adults remained the most represented age group, with those aged 18–24 accounting for 27% of all cases. Within this cohort, men were more likely to report adult content, sextortion, and bestiality-related content, while women more frequently reported harassment, privacy violations, and intimate image abuse.
Adults aged 25–34 made up a further 24% of cases, with harassment and privacy concerns common across genders. Children and young people aged 13–17 accounted for 17% of reports, with bullying, impersonation, privacy breaches, and exposure to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) featuring prominently.
Overall, 44% of clients identified as female, 41% as male, and 15% identified as another gender or chose not to disclose this information.
Harm Is Often Witnessed Rather Than Experienced Directly
Nearly half of all reports (45%) related to individuals witnessing harmful content rather than experiencing it themselves. Common concerns included exposure to animal abuse, adult content, and child sexual abuse material.
By comparison, 42% of clients reported harms they had experienced directly, including harassment, bullying, impersonation, and privacy violations. A further 20% reported concerns on behalf of someone else, demonstrating the important role played by parents, carers, professionals, and peers in identifying and responding to online harm.
Increased Need for Escalation
One in five cases required escalation to industry platforms in 2025, representing a 54% increase on the previous year. Harassment, bullying, adult content, and animal abuse were the harms most frequently escalated.
Not all cases fell within RHC's remit or could be escalated, particularly where individuals were located outside the UK, where harms involved CSAM or sextortion, or where platforms sat outside the scope of the service. In these cases, clients were supported through referrals, signposting, or direct reporting routes.
Where practitioner-led escalations were possible, outcomes remained strong, with 83% of escalated content successfully removed.
What the Data Tells Us
The decrease in overall case numbers should not be interpreted as a reduction in online harm. Instead, the data reflects a service operating with reduced capacity while continuing to respond to persistent and evolving harms.
Harassment and privacy violations remain prominent concerns, particularly among younger adults. At the same time, increased escalation rates and high takedown success demonstrate the continued value of trusted intermediary services in securing action when harmful content is reported.
The findings suggest that demand for support remains significant. As the online safety landscape continues to evolve, there is a clear need for effective routes to redress, stronger platform accountability, and accessible support for individuals affected by legal but harmful online content. The insights from 2025 are informing ongoing reviews of the service, helping to shape future developments that better meet users' needs and strengthen protections online.
As discussions continue around alternative dispute resolution within the Online Safety framework, these findings provide valuable evidence of where reporting challenges persist and why independent support services remain a critical component of individual redress.