The number of reports of illegal content online increased by 70% year-on-year in 2025, to 1,747, with more than a thousand reporting content involving sexual abuse of minors, Carolina Soares, manager of the Safe Internet Line (LIS), told Lusa.
“Following this growth trend we have seen in support for victims of cybercrime and violence [949 casos]”There is an increase in reports on the illegal content reporting channel we call Hotline”, said the person in charge.
The Safe Internet Line is a service of the Safe Internet Center, coordinated by the Portuguese Victim Support Association (APAV), with two dimensions: Helpline, which provides anonymous and confidential telephone or online support to victims of cybercrime, and Hotline, a platform for reporting illegal online content such as sexual abuse of minors, incitement to violence, racism, xenophobia and online terrorism.
Of the volume of Hotline reports received last year – 1,747 -, compared to 2024, “we had an increase of around 70% in the number of reported cases, of which 61% concerned sexual content involving minorswhich also represents an increase of 41% compared to the previous year”, he said.
Of the total reports received in 2025, 61.6% relate to sexual abuse of minors (1,076), compared to 761 a year earlier.
“Then we had another, quite significant, increase of 112% in hate speech situations [para 569 denúncias] that were signaled to us in view of 2024″, added Carolina Soares, highlighting that in these two categories there was a significant increase.
In other words, “more people reporting what appears to them to be, and often is, sexual content of minors online and also more people reporting situations of hate speech online”, he emphasized.
“It seems to me that both situations deserve particular attention: on the one hand, because we also have people (…) who are more attentive and responsive to the content they see online and, on the other, we are also aware that there is a greater percentage of content of this type that proliferates in the digital space”, he pointed out.
In total, 1,780 images and videos were categorized, 49% of which related to female victims (870).
When someone reports it, “a technical analyst will then check the content in a specific room and in the face of (…) a report of sexual content involving minors that is in fact, we have to check whether that content is hosted in Portugal or abroad”, he explained.
If you are staying in Portugal, it is APAV that signals the Judiciary Police (PJ), namely the Cybercrime Unit, with whom it has a protocol. They then insert the content into a platform that is hosted on Interpol servers, where they insert the URL [endereço] to extract the content and analyze the image or video, so that the international police can work to identify minors and aggressors.
“If the content is hosted in Portugal, we also do what we call Notice and Take Down, which is an NTD”, which is to make a report to the hosting service where this content is located so that it can be removed within 72 hours.
The PJ is always informed of these procedures.
In the case of reports of hate speech content, “the analysis is somewhat similar, so we have to check whether or not it falls within article 240, which is the discrimination article of our Penal Code”, he said.
If applicable, APAV makes a complaint to the PJ and the publication may also be requested to be removed.
The Safe Internet Center, coordinated by the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS), is the result of a consortium involving DGE – General Directorate of Education, IPDJ – Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth, FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, APAV and Microsoft Portugal.
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