‘How can you sleep at night?’: Mother’s fury as explicit footage of teenage daughter is repeatedly reinstated on X
The video is believed to have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
A mother has told LBC she feels “drained” and “helpless” after explicit footage of her teenage daughter was repeatedly reinstated on Elon Musk's X - despite being reported to the platform.
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The video is believed to have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times over the past week, with view counts reportedly increasing by as many as 1,000 an hour.
Jessica, whose name we've changed to protect the family's identity, says her daughter was 13 when she was groomed into carrying out sexual acts on a video call, without knowing she was being recorded.
“She was in a vulnerable place and somebody preyed upon that, making her feel she was connected to somebody who was her own age.
“She didn't know there was a more sinister motive behind it.”
Jessica says her daughter, who is now in her mid-teens, was approached by a classmate at school last Wednesday, who told her that an old video of her had appeared on X.
The footage had been uploaded to the platform the previous day by an account based abroad, which had just under 100,000 followers.
Jessica says she and her daughter were plunged into “pure panic” and immediately went into “fight mode” as they tried to get the material removed.
Read more: Tech Secretary hits out at Elon Musk over 'online violence' and 'vile' deepfake images on X
They both immediately reported the account to X, which appeared to suspend it on Friday morning.
But by Friday night, the account had been reactivated.
It was suspended again on Sunday night, only to be reactivated the following morning.
In a desperate bid to get the video removed, Jessica travelled to X’s Dublin headquarters on Tuesday to raise her case directly with executives.
Determined to get the content taken down, Jessica carried 100 red envelopes containing details of her daughter's case to X's headquarters, each addressed to the platform's child safety and legal teams.
After waiting almost an hour, she was told the relevant X representative was in Paris and unable to meet her.
The account was eventually removed in its entirety late Tuesday afternoon – approximately 24 hours after LBC contacted X with details of Jessica’s case.
She is yet to hear directly from the platform, but says she is grateful to LBC for intervening.
Jessica said the explicit material remained available after both suspensions, fuelling serious safety concerns as strangers commented: “Who is she?” and “Where can I find more?”
The mother and daughter filed a number of reports with X, flagging the material as illegal content, but says she was told that no violation of the platform’s rules had been found.
“They deem the content appropriate even though it's of a minor and there is no consent there."
Jessica said the impact on her daughter’s mental health has been profound, and that she initially slept in the same bed as her after the footage emerged because she was worried she might self-harm.
“It's incredibly draining, worrying, embarrassing. Just reliving a hell every day.
“You almost breathe a sigh of relief when the account has been suspended, to then hear it's reactivated just starts the whole process again.”
She described the experience as “chilling” and “harrowing”, saying she had felt out of control while trying to find someone to listen.
“For a young child to carry the weight of that is very draining... it's asking a lot of a child.”
Jessica says she was unable to appeal X’s decisions despite repeatedly reporting the material.
“You can't stop these predators. The only people that can stop them are the bosses at these big tech companies. I don't know how they can sleep at night... where are their morals? Do they have children, and how would they like it?
“Everyone makes mistakes, especially as a child. The difference in today's world is that social media means those mistakes can come back to haunt them.”
The NSPCC says almost 37,000 child sexual abuse image offences were recorded by police forces across the UK in 2025, with 24% of girls who shared nude images of themselves having them leaked.
Lewis Keller, Senior Policy Officer for Child Safety Online at the NSPCC, told LBC the UK is "one of the largest markets in the world for the consumption of child sexual abuse material."
"Children, who have often been coerced or tricked into sharing nude images or videos of themselves, can find these images circulating online.
"It's really important that tech companies put in place robust and well-resourced moderation systems which ensure anytime illegal content is shared online, there are actually measures in place that mean that it can be removed swiftly."
He called for safeguards to be implemented to prevent self-generated photos of children being made in the first place, which account for 45% of all sexual abuse videos, according to a 2025 study by the Internet Watch Foundation.
"The UK government has said that it wants the UK to be the first country to introduce nudity blocking technology on children's devices... that sort of preventative measure makes such a big difference.
"We're urging the government to legislate on this so that these kinds of cases can't happen again."
X is currently under investigation by Ofcom over its handling of child sexual abuse material.
The regulator opened an investigation in January after reports that X's Grok service was being used to create and share sexualised images of children which may amount to child sexual abuse material.
Ofcom is examining whether X failed to prevent UK users from encountering illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, and whether it removed such material swiftly when it became aware of it.
X has been approached for comment.
Children under 18 can report sexual images or videos of themselves through Report Remove, a service run by Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation. Childline also offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day on 0800 1111.