More child sex abuse images and videos are being found online than ever before, according to a charity.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which searches for and removes such content from the web, has warned the sickening material it is discovering could be the "tip of the iceberg".

According to its annual report, there were 78,589 confirmed child sexual abuse URLs found in 2017, an increase of more than a third (37%) from the year before.

Category A content, which includes rape and sexual torture, has also increased from 28% of all content to 33%.

Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the IWF, said offenders are "getting smarter" and "finding new ways to abuse legitimate internet services".


What the IWF calls "disguised website abuse" has seen an unprecedented increase.

There was a staggering 86% rise in the use of disguised websites, from 1,572 websites in 2016 to 2,909 in 2017.

These are websites where the abuse imagery is only revealed to someone who has followed a set of specific steps. To other users they will show legal content.

The IWF said the increased prevalence of disguised websites indicates increased intelligence among offenders, who may be resorting to new lengths to avoid being caught.

"The child victims of sexual abuse online are revictimised again and again, every time their picture is shared," Ms Hargreaves said.

"The experience they go through at such a young age is unimaginably horrific, and they frequently take this pain into adulthood with them.

"That's why at the IWF we fight every day to make sure these images and videos are removed from the internet, so that victims are no longer forced to live with the torment of others seeing the images of their abuse online.

"While I'm so proud of our Hotline for the sheer number of child sexual abuse URLs they're removing online, these figures show what a vast amount of content is out there.

"Sadly, this could just be the tip of the iceberg."

Europe is the worst offender for hosting child sexual abuse imagery, with the continent hosting 65% of content the IWF discovered.

It said the Netherlands continues to be the worst country for hosting such material, followed by the US, Canada, France and Russia.