CNN International(@cnni):The Philippines is the epicenter of the industry for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) – one of the fastest growing crimes online. From 2015 to 2023, the US was the number one buyer of CSAM from the Philippines, according to the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). From 2020 to 2022, Americans spent more than $7 million on illegal child abuse content from the Philippines, according to the AMLC report. That number does little to illustrate the scale of the problem. CSAM is often sold for just a few dollars an image, or for access to a livestream, so the figure represents hundreds of thousands of images

2026.10.11 07:00

The Philippines is the epicenter of the industry for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) – one of the fastest growing crimes online. From 2015 to 2023, the US was the number one buyer of CSAM from the Philippines, according to the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). From 2020 to 2022, Americans spent more than $7 million on illegal child abuse content from the Philippines, according to the AMLC report. That number does little to illustrate the scale of the problem. CSAM is often sold for just a few dollars an image, or for access to a livestream, so the figure represents hundreds of thousands of images – and children.