Launched in 1996, our vision is an internet free from child sexual abuse that is a safe place for children and adults to use around the world. Based in the UK, we are a not-for-profit global resource providing high quality data and technical services to prevent the upload, storage, distribution and trade of child sexual abuse imagery around the world.
Working internationally, we are Europe’s largest hotline for combating online child sexual abuse images and videos and a critical support to tech companies, governments and regulators in creating safe online environments.
We actively search for this imagery and for the past 28 years, we’ve given people a safe place to report it to us, anonymously, extending our service to 53 countries and 2.6bn people.
We assess every report we receive. If it shows the sexual abuse of a child, we make sure the image or video is removed from the internet.
To do this effectively, we develop technology-for-good: we provide bespoke services, products and datasets to our industry Members and law enforcement partners to prevent the imagery from re-appearing and make it harder for offenders to find and share.
With more than 70 dedicated staff, IWF is one of the biggest hotlines for tackling child sexual abuse imagery in the world, and the largest in Europe.
We care. Our work relies on compassionate and resilient staff members, who are highly trained and carefully looked after.
We encourage others to play their part, whether it is reporting to us, funding us or collaborating on the best technology and research.