Child sex offenders are using online dating sites at high rates and may be trying to gain access to children through their parents, a report has warned.

The report from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, hosted at the University of Edinburgh, found men who sexually offend against children are nearly four times more likely to use dating sites than non- offenders.

The research found nearly two thirds (66 per cent) of men who have sexually offended against children used dating platforms – with over one in five offenders using dating apps daily.

Researchers say the findings highlight the need for stronger regulation of dating apps to protect users against child sex offenders.

“Child sexual exploitation and abuse is a global public health emergency that requires emergency measures. New risks are emerging and protections have not kept pace,” Debi Fry, Childlight’s global director of data and professor of international child protection research at the University of Edinburgh.

“But it’s preventable, not inevitable. It means focusing not just on reactive law enforcement measures but on proactive prevention strategies that tackle the underlying determinants of abuse — including the financial and technological ecosystems that sustain it.”

Childlight’s findings are based on a self-reported survey of 5,000 men in Australia, the UK, and US.

The research found 11.5% of men surveyed admitted having sexual feelings towards children and 11% confessed to sexual offences against minors.

The survey asked questions of men relating to carrying out online behaviour that could be classed as child sex abuse. It indicated that one in nine men in the US, 7% in the UK, and 7.5% of men in Australia admitted to such behaviour.

The research provides distributing insights into shocking perpetrator behaviour online.

Experts say offenders may appear trustworthy, as they are more likely to have a child in their house, work with children, and have a higher education level.

The report also found men who have committed sexual offences against children engaged more frequently in certain online activities, like online shopping, dating, and gaming.

They are also more likely to own and use cryptocurrency and to buy sexual content online.

“Our findings provide clear evidence that dating apps lack adequate child protection measures, and these loopholes are being exploited by child abusers to target single parents and their children,” Professor Michael Salter, report co-author, and director of the new Childlight East Asia and Pacific Hub at UNSW Sydney, said.

“There’s no reason why the robust user identification methods we have in other industries, such as banking and gambling, should not also have to be adopted by dating app platforms. Similarly, there are a range of AI tools and systems that can flag problematic words and conversations that can and should be used.”

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To better protect children, Professor Salter recommends user verification processes, such as mandatory ID checks, and tools to detect predatory behaviours, like grooming language or suspicious messaging patterns.

He also calls for education campaigns to raise single parents’ awareness of risks and how to spot red flags to protect their families, and better platform accountability which may require new regulation.

The findings are part of a broader investigation into the multi-billion dollar industry of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The research also reveals that mainstream companies are among those benefiting from, and perpetuating, a multi-billion-dollar global trade in the technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse of children (CSEA). They include payment transfer firms and social media platforms where illegal child sexual abuse images are present and where abuse-related traffic can increase advertising revenues.

The report warns that sexual exploitation and abuse of children has become a pandemic, impacting more than 300 million every year.