About Us

Working to stop child sexual abuse online

Protecting children is at the heart of everything we do. For over 28 years, since the early days of the internet, our job has been to help child victims of sexual abuse by hunting down and removing any online record of the abuse.

It’s a tough job. Our image analysts are amongst the best in the world. The children in the pictures are real. Their abuse and suffering is very real. Our experts never forget that.

The criminals who sexually abuse children, then record their suffering and share the horror online are ruthless. Sometimes they create images with audiences in mind. Victims range from babies to young teens. Abusers are often experienced at online grooming, skilled at manipulating young minds. Sometimes victims don’t even realise they are being abused until it’s too late.

Sadly, the internet makes it easier to share these images. We use advanced technology and human expertise to help young victims. If we can remove the record of suffering online and stop those images circulating, then we can stop the abuse being perpetuated. This makes the internet a safer place for all children and adults.

How we do this

• Tech-for-good. We build cutting-edge tech tools designed to make it easier to identify and remove online images and videos of child sexual abuse. In short, tech to protect kids.
• Our team of human analysts. Tech companies and law enforcement worldwide trust the assessments, experience and knowledge of our extraordinary team of people.
• Working together. With international partners in government, law enforcement, reporting hotlines, charities and the tech community we work to stop illegal images of children being circulated again and again. We share vital information that could lead to the rescue of a child from terrible abuse.
• IWF Hotline. This gives people a safe and anonymous place to report suspected online images and videos showing the sexual abuse of children. When we started in 1996, 18 per cent of child sexual abuse imagery online was hosted in the UK. Today, thanks to our Hotline, it’s less than one per cent. We’re proud of that.