Safety · Barcelona
Child sexual abuse material cases in Barcelona rise almost 60% in 2025
Barcelona's provincial prosecutors opened 132 child abuse material procedures in 2025, almost 60% more than the year before, and platform complaints now drive half or more of them.
AI text based on reports by LaVanguardia, EL PAÍS, El Periódico and other publishers. Published . How it is made
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In brief
The Barcelona provincial prosecutor's office opened 132 procedures in 2025, almost 60% more than in 2024, which had already risen about 20% over 2023.
Roberto Valverde says 50% to 60% of procedures start from complaints by Google, Microsoft or Meta, while no proceedings are open in Barcelona against those companies.
Written charges rose from 37 in 2024 to 54 in 2025, and drafting charging documents can take two to three years.
The 2025 report logs three procedures over AI tools used to create nude images simulating minors, plus two complaints that did not reach court.
Spain's Fiscalía General counts 1,595 procedures in 2025, 33% more than in 2024, with an investigation efficacy index of 46%.
Rise in Barcelona cases
The provincial prosecutor's office in Barcelona opened 132 procedures over child abuse material in 2025, according to its annual report for that year, which Europa Press consulted. The figure is almost 60% above 2024, a year that had already shown a rise of about 20% over 2023. The office credits the increase to better detection and to specialised units for vulnerable victims and violence against children and adolescents, created during 2025. Those units allow closer monitoring of cases and more attention to victims, sources in the prosecution service said.
The number of charging documents grew as well. The office filed 54 written charges under article 189 of the Penal Code in 2025, against 37 in 2024.
- 2024
- 37 charges
- 2025
- 54 charges
Data from the article text
Platforms as the main source of complaints
Roberto Valverde, who leads the computer crime section, estimates that between 50% and 60% of procedures start from complaints by large technology firms such as Google, Microsoft and Meta. These companies run automated systems that flag abuse material stored or sent through their services and report it to authorities. Valverde says the platform cases are the least complex to analyse.
“Serious platforms do cooperate.”
Valverde qualified that answer. When prosecutors need fuller subscriber data, rogatory commissions to the firms' home countries are often required, a slower process. Despite a probe into TikTok ordered by the Fiscalía General del Estado, the Barcelona office has no open proceedings against these companies over alleged responsibility for distributing abuse material.
Slow path from complaint to charge
When cases prove viable, prosecutors can take two to three years to draft charging documents. Forensic laboratories are overloaded, which slows the work. That lag explains why 132 procedures opened in 2025 produced only 54 written charges that year, while the 37 charges of 2024 came from earlier intake.
Who is investigated and what is new
Most people under investigation are men, but the office says there is no single profile. Among them are relatives or acquaintances of victims, instructors and even peers. The most common offence is possession and distribution of abuse material through cloud services or messaging platforms, followed by file sharing on networks. Production cases are less frequent.
The report records artificial intelligence for the first time. Three procedures in 2025 concerned the use of AI tools to generate nude images simulating minors, and two further complaints did not reach court. Grooming cases, meaning adult contact with under-16s online for sexual purposes, fell to 24, a third fewer than the year before. Charging documents in that area rose slightly, to 15.
Nationwide picture
Across Spain, the Fiscalía General del Estado counts 1,595 procedures in 2025 across three categories, 33% more than in 2024. Child abuse material accounts for 865 of them, grooming for 160 and other offences against sexual freedom for 570. The investigation efficacy index stood at 46%. The national report warns that predators find minors easily through social networks, chats and some video games that children use without supervision.
- Child abuse material
- 865 procedures
- Child grooming
- 160 procedures
- Other sexual freedom offences
- 570 procedures
Data from the article text
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Sources and context
- LaVanguardiaOnline child pornography cases increase almost 60% in BarcelonaLos casos de pornografía infantil en la red aumentan casi un 60% en Barcelona · original in Spanish
- EL PAÍSComplaints from digital platforms originate half of the child pornography cases investigated by the Prosecutor's OfficeLas denuncias de las plataformas digitales originan la mitad de los casos de pornografía infantil investigados por la Fiscalía · original in Spanish
- El PeriódicoTechnology platforms file up to 60% of complaints for child sexual abuse on the internetLas plataformas tecnológicas presentan hasta el 60% de las denuncias por abuso sexual infantil en internet · original in Spanish
- europa pressChild pornography cases rise 60% in BarcelonaLos casos de pornografía infantil suben un 60% en Barcelona... · original in Spanish
- Roberto Valverde
- Barcelona provincial prosecutor who leads the computer crime section of the prosecutor's office
- Places
- Barcelona
- Organizations
- Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms
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