Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)

I've been in Vienna for the last few days, representing Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) at the 43rd meeting of the Lanzarote Committee, Council of Europe at United Nations Office at Vienna. The Committee focused on emerging technologies, and the threats and opportunities for protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse. I presented IWF's work on AI generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM): 🔎In the past six months alone, analysts at IWF have seen a 6% increase in confirmed reports containing AI-generated child sexual abuse material, compared with the preceding 12 months. 👉We are calling for child sexual abuse laws to be updated in line with emerging harms, to prevent AI technology being exploited to create child sexual abuse material. 💻 Tech companies must also prioritise the protection of children and the prevention of AI abuse imagery above any thought of profit, such as through rigorous testing and safety by design, to minimise harm. https://lnkd.in/etx2zCqp

#AI generated child sexual abuse content is increasingly being found on publicly accessible areas of the internet, exposing even more people to this harmful and horrific imagery. More than half of the AI generated content found in the past six months by our analysts was hosted on servers in two countries, the Russian Federation (36%) and the United States (22%), with Japan and the Netherlands following at 11% and 8% respectively. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/d9HbSuZ3

📸 Teens today are being pressured into sharing nudes, from peers and strangers online. We need to talk about it – and get them to think before they share. For tips and advice for parents, carers, teenagers and educators go to thinkbeforeyoushare.org #AwarenessCampaign #OnlineChildProtection #ThinkBeforeYouShare

Help protect your legitimate financial service brand from being used for payments online for criminal child sexual abuse imagery with our Payment Brand Alerts. We share our portfolio of tools and services with our Members, to help the tech community keep their services and products safe. Learn more on our website: https://lnkd.in/dA2Zz5iq.

Report Remove is a first of its kind service run by the Internet Watch Foundation and NSPCC's #Childline helping young people remove explicit images shared online. This vital service empowers youth to take control and safeguard their online presence. Visit the website to learn more and help us spread the word: https://lnkd.in/ds53xFXZ

We're seeking an experienced external evaluation partner to assess the effectiveness of our global reporting portals. Read the proposal guidance here to find out more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e3CDHb87 🕘 Closing date for submissions: Wednesday 6 November.

If you are a Satellite Connectivity Company or Satellite Service Provider, join our mission to defend children online and protect your platform by blocking webpages containing child sexual abuse material. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dYavtQGU. Amazon Project Kuiper, Eutelsat OneWeb, SES Satellites , Viasat, Intelsat.

📱 Did you know? The Internet Watch Foundation is at the forefront of protecting children from online sexual abuse. Every day, our analysts work to remove harmful images and videos from the web. Last year alone, we were able to remove over 250,000 webpages containing this illegal imagery. Learn more about our work by visiting out website: iwf.org.uk.

A "landmark" drive by Public Interest Registry and the Internet Watch Foundation to target criminal gangs exploiting 'loopholes' to keep child sexual abuse online has seen the number of domain registries using our services triple in six months. Derek Ray-Hill, Interim CEO at the IWF, said: "Through this landmark initiative, we've been able to bring IWF protection to even more parts of the internet. "The problems we face need a collaborative approach, and I know it is through collaborations like this that we can really make a difference and frustrate these criminal gangs who want to profit from children's suffering and hurt. "But we need to go further. The last six months have seen us triple the number of registries using these tools. We're sending a strong message – and now is the time for more people to join us in this important work. It's time to shut the door for good on these criminals." Read more below.

AI generated child sexual abuse is a growing problem that shows no signs of slowing down. Many of these images and videos found online by analysts at the IWF are so realistic that they are a struggle to distinguish from imagery depicting the abuse of real children, even with years of training and experience. It can also be just as distressing to view. Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs, Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Lead at the National Police Chiefs' Council, said: “The scale of online child sexual abuse and imagery is frightening, and we know that the increased use of artificial intelligence to generate abusive images poses a real-life threat to children [...] While we will continue to relentlessly pursue these predators and safeguard victims, we must see action from tech companies to do more under the Online Safety Act to make their platforms safe places for children and young people.” Learn more about the growing threat posed by the misuse of AI technology: https://lnkd.in/d9HbSuZ3