UK hosted child sexual abuse imagery

 

UK hosting volume

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

  • In 2023, 287 URLs displaying child sexual abuse imagery were hosted in the UK, a decrease of 55% from 640 URLs in 2022.
  • The UK hosted 0.1% of all child sexual abuse URLs which IWF identified in 2023.

112 takedown notices relating to the 287 URLs were sent to UK hosting companies (we might send one notice for several webpages).

UK Child sexual abuse content removal in minutes

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: 1 minute

UK child sexual abuse imagery removal time in minutes

  • More than 120 minutes - 72 (62%)
  • 120 minutes or less - 10 (9%)
  • 60 minutes or less - 33 (29%)

Hover or click chart segments for values.

  • 29 companies’ services in the UK were abused to host child sexual abuse images or videos during 2023.

We issue takedown notices to UK companies whether they’re in IWF membership 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 a minimum of three pieces of technology to trace the hosting location, then issue a takedown notice to the company which is hosting the material.

Law enforcement 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.