How to Report Child Exploitation to NCMEC

If you've come across something online that made you think a child is being hurt or targeted, you don't need to have all the facts sorted out before you say something. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children exists for exactly this reason. Reporting takes a few minutes, and it can be the first step toward getting a child help.

This guide walks through what NCMEC handles, how to file a report, and what to expect once you do.

What Is NCMEC's CyberTipline?

NCMEC — pronounced "nic-mek" — is a nonprofit that Congress designated as the country's central hub for reports involving missing and sexually exploited children. Its online reporting system, the CyberTipline, has been running since 1998, and it's built to take tips from ordinary people as well as from tech companies like Meta, Google, and Snapchat, which are legally required to report certain content they find on their platforms.

Once a report comes in, trained analysts at NCMEC review it, try to figure out roughly where the incident happened, and pass it along to the right law enforcement agency for possible investigation. You are not the one deciding whether a crime occurred — that's their job. Your job is just to flag what you saw.

What You Can Report

The CyberTipline accepts reports covering:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM), sometimes still called "child pornography"

• Online enticement — an adult trying to get a child to meet up, send explicit images, or do something sexual, often through gaming platforms, apps, or social media

• Child sex trafficking

• Child sex tourism

• Sexual molestation of a child

• Unsolicited obscene material sent to a child

• Misleading domain names or search terms designed to expose children to explicit content

If what you're seeing doesn't fit neatly into one of these categories but still feels wrong, report it anyway. NCMEC's analysts are trained to sort through gray areas — that's not something you have to figure out on your own beforehand.

How to File a Report

Online, through the CyberTipline. Go to report.cybertip.org and follow the prompts. The form asks what happened, where you saw it (a screenshot or a link helps), and any details about who was involved, if you know them. You can choose to stay anonymous, though leaving contact information makes it easier for investigators to follow up if they have questions.

By phone. Call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678). The hotline runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and works for reporting exploitation as well as for reporting a missing child.

Either route reaches the same team. Use whichever one you're more comfortable with — some people find it easier to write things out calmly rather than say them out loud, and others prefer to talk to someone directly.

What to Include

You don't need a complete picture before you report, but a few details make the report far more useful to investigators:

• Screenshots or links to the content, if it's still available

• Usernames, profile links, or any identifying information about the person involved

• The platform where it happened (app, website, game)

• Roughly when it happened

• Anything the child or victim told you directly, in their own words if possible

If you're missing most of this, submit the report anyway. Something is better than nothing, and NCMEC would rather review an incomplete tip than never hear about it.

If a Child Is in Immediate Danger

Call 911 first. The CyberTipline is designed for reporting and investigation, not for emergency response — it's not the right channel if a child is in danger right now. Once law enforcement is involved, you can still file a CyberTipline report to add detail to what they already have.

If the Images Are of You or Your Child

NCMEC runs a separate, free tool called Take It Down specifically for nude or sexually explicit images and videos taken before someone turned 18. It works by creating a digital fingerprint of the image on your own device — the image itself never gets uploaded or seen by anyone — and that fingerprint gets shared with participating platforms so they can find and remove matching content. You can use it anonymously, and it doesn't require you to hand the actual photo or video over to anyone.

You can also still file a CyberTipline report separately, especially if someone is actively threatening to share the images or is using them to pressure the child into something else.

What Happens After You Report

NCMEC analysts review the report, verify what they can, and route it to the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the relevant state or local police, depending on where the incident appears to have happened. From there, it becomes a law enforcement matter — NCMEC doesn't make arrests or bring charges itself. If you left contact information, an investigator may reach out with follow-up questions, but there's no guarantee you'll hear back, since ongoing investigations are usually kept confidential.

Other Resources Worth Knowing

• Know2Protect Tipline (Department of Homeland Security): 1-833-591-5669, or online at dhs.gov/know2protect

• Local law enforcement: for anything happening in your immediate area, or alongside a CyberTipline report

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 if you or someone you know is struggling emotionally in the wake of exploitation

Reporting can feel like a small act against a problem that seems much bigger than one tip. It isn't. Every report adds a data point that helps investigators connect cases, identify victims, and in some instances, get a child out of an ongoing situation. If something felt off enough that you looked this up, it's worth reporting.