Abstract
Child sexual abuse in cyberspace is one of the major societal issues globally due to the vulnerability of victims and possible future consequences (Miller, 2013). Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable groups in terms of online sexual victimization (Baumgartner et al., 2010).
Moreover, the online environment is often used by this group as a space for self-presentation, exploring interpersonal relationships or also having their first sexual experiences (Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008), which can make it easier for them to become victims of online sexual violence. In the online environment, perpetrators of sexual violence are often persons who perceive the child as an available (surrogate) source of sexual gratification, without a priori desiring to realize their own sexuality with the child object (Miller, 2013).
Wykes (2017) points out that cyberspace offers some advantages for potential perpetrators over the real world. These include greater anonymity, the ability to reach a greater number of potential victims compared to the real world, or even the ability to assess a potential victim's vulnerability in advance by ascertaining information from their profile (e.g.
Wykes, 2017 or Child Abuse Online, 2020). Perpetrators of online sexual violence typically do not have a pre-arranged plan to abuse a particular child - rather, the key for them is the random opportunity that presents itself (Leclerc & Proulx, 2017; Richards, 2011).