UK hosted child sexual abuse imagery

URL analysis

UK hosting volume

The UK hosts a small volume of online child sexual abuse content.

In 2024, of the 291,273 reports that displayed child sexual abuse imagery:

  • 987 were hosted in the UK. This is an increase of 244% from 287 URLs in 2023.
  • Only 0.34% of all actioned reports were hosted in the UK.
  • 146 takedown notices relating to the 987 URLs were sent to UK hosting companies (where we see multiple reports or URLs for the same host, we will send one notice for several webpages).

The increase in UK-hosted sites in 2024 is mostly due to a single website hosting hundreds of images and videos using UK-based servers. As a result of the Hotline’s actions, these URLs were taken offline within 24 hours of our analysts finding and assessing them.

 

UK hosted child sexual abuse content removal time

We have to act quickly. The longer an image stays live, the more opportunity there is for offenders to view and share it, and more harm is caused to the victims.

In partnership with the online industry, we push to secure the rapid removal of this content. The ‘takedown’ clock ticks from the moment we issue a takedown notice to the hosting company, to the time the content is removed.

Fastest removal: 4 minutes

UK hosted child sexual abuse imagery removal time

  • 87% of the notice and takedowns (NTDs) issued resulted in content removal within 24 hours.
  • 24 companies’ services in the UK were abused to host child sexual abuse images or videos during 2024.

We issue takedown notices to UK companies whether they are an IWF Member or not.

  • All companies who were abused were not IWF Members and were therefore not financially supporting the crucial work of the IWF Hotline in keeping UK hosting space free from child sexual abuse imagery.

 

What can we do about this?

We use multiple different technologies to trace the hosting location, then issue a takedown notice to the company which is hosting the material.

Law enforcement organisations are consulted during this process and evidence is retained for investigation.

Although the URL numbers are relatively small compared to the global problem, it’s important that the UK remains a hostile place for criminals to host this content.