Data shows investigations into child sex offences by Tasmania's Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team had increased by 280 per cent since February 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019.

Dayna Dennison, spokesperson for the victim of convicted Tasmanian paedophile John Wayne Millwood, said the increase in cases could be attributed to the increase in victims coming forward.

"I don't believe we can necessarily discredit any involvement of COVID in the increase in cases ... I do believe that [with] the Royal Commission and the Me Too campaign ... victims are now feeling more confident to come forward and share stories," she said.

"Finally, we're in a community where people are happy to have those conversations and I think that's really powerful for victims because finally they feel safer to go to someone and report what's happened."

Ms Dennison said in her research, perpetrators of sexual offences against children are known to their victims in the majority of cases.

Anti child exploitation advocacy group Collective Shout campaign manager Melinda Liszewski said child exploitation through social media, particularly through Instagram livestreams, had been an ever-growing issue.

"My colleague yesterday witnessed a mother telling her child to dance [via livestream] and there were all these men commenting and asking for photos - we know there are some parents selling photos of their children through Instagram [too]," she said.

"That's one of the most shocking things for us because Instagram is such a mainstream tool, there's no need to go to the dark web for child exploitation."

Ms Lizewski said more needed to be done to police child exploitation in social media, less it becomes mainstream.

"In plain sight it becomes normalised ... that's why we're going to see increases because these men and some women are becoming more bold and working with other paedophiles - it's just a living nightmare," she said.

Child sexual abuse material can be reported anonymously to the eSafety Commissioner at esafety.gov.au/reportillegalcontent.

Crimes can also be reported anonymously to CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

If this article raises concerns for you or anyone you know contact the 24-hour national sexual assault and family violence counselling service on 1800 737 732.