Cyberflashing is a UK criminal offence as of 31 January 2024. How to recognise it, support your child, and report unsolicited sexual images sent by AirDrop, Bluetooth, or DM.
Cyberflashing is the sending of unwanted sexual images to someone's device without their consent, often via messaging or nearby-sharing features, which is a criminal offence in the UK.
Cyberflashing is the sending of unsolicited sexual images, most often by AirDrop, Bluetooth, or social-media direct message. It became a specific criminal offence in England and Wales on 31 January 2024 under Section 187 of the Online Safety Act 2023, which inserted a new section 66A into the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Victims are disproportionately young women and teenage girls, but children of any gender can be targeted. The offence can carry up to two years' imprisonment and, where relevant, sex-offender notification requirements.
An offender uses a phone's AirDrop or Bluetooth feature to push an image to nearby devices on public transport, in shops, or at school. On social media they may use the direct-message function, a disappearing message feature, or a fake account. Some offenders target a single child repeatedly; others send the same image to a wide group in the hope of provoking shock. Many young people do not tell an adult because they feel embarrassed or worry they will lose their phone.
In your child's behaviour
On their device
Set AirDrop, Nearby Share, and Bluetooth to contacts only
On iPhone, set AirDrop to 'Contacts Only' or 'Receiving Off'. On Android, switch Nearby Share to 'Contacts' or 'Hidden'. Turn Bluetooth off when not in use, particularly on public transport.
Lock down DMs on every social platform
Restrict who can send direct messages and turn off image previews from non-followers where possible. Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok all offer settings that limit contact from unknown accounts.
Have the conversation before it happens
Tell your child that if anyone sends them an unwanted sexual image, it is the sender who has done something wrong and is now committing a criminal offence. They will not be in trouble and will not lose their phone for reporting it.
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myth: It's just an immature prank — no real harm done.
Fact: Receiving an unsolicited sexual image is intrusive and distressing, and the law now treats it as a sexual offence, not a joke. Victims — disproportionately girls — often change how they travel or use their phone afterwards.
Myth: If my child received an image, they must have shared their number or encouraged it somehow.
Fact: AirDrop and similar features can push images to any nearby device — on a bus, in a shopping centre, at school — with no contact details exchanged at all. The recipient has done nothing wrong.
Myth: Just block the sender and move on — there's no point reporting it.
Fact: The sending itself is the offence, so it is worth reporting to the platform and the police even if it never happens again. Reports also help identify senders who target many children.
Targeting is less common at this age, but set devices up safely from the start: AirDrop and Nearby Share off or contacts-only on anything they use, and a standing rule that they show you anything strange that arrives on a screen.
First phones and independent bus or train journeys are when this typically starts. Lock down AirDrop, Bluetooth, and DMs together, and rehearse the plan: don't reply, tell an adult, and they will never lose their phone for reporting it.
Name it as a criminal offence and encourage reporting rather than shrugging it off as normal. Be equally clear the other way: sending an unsolicited sexual image themselves is a crime, however it is framed among friends.
Encourage them to report incidents to the police and platforms, keep safe evidence (the notification and sender details, not the image), and support friends who are targeted — including challenging the idea that recipients are ever to blame.
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