Tech Coalition

📆 Join us for our first Pathways Fireside chat about reporting CSAM to NCMEC on 18 November at 12pm ET. This webinar will cover: - why and how to register as an ESP, - what is legally required to report, - the different options available for reporting, - implications of the REPORT Act, and - how to help Law Enforcement and NCMEC review and prioritize reports. Our President and CEO Sean Litton, will host the discussion with Fallon McNulty (Director of the CyberTipline, NCMEC),  Ethan Arenson (Director & Head of Digital Safety, Verizon) and Bruna Z. (Integrity Lead, Yubo). Register by 15 November ⤵ 🔗 https://lnkd.in/edCJMaRX

Today the Tech Coalition hosted a global multi-stakeholder forum on combating the financial sextortion of children. The virtual half-day event was a follow up to our June 2023 forum on the same topic. Building on last year’s gathering, this forum provided an opportunity for representatives of the tech industry, financial sector, global law enforcement, civil society, academia, and governments to provide updates on the current status of this heinous crime and progress in responding since June 2023. The event was attended by more than 150 people, with representatives from 20 Tech Coalition member companies. We are grateful for everyone who participated in the event. We look forward to the work to come in areas such as: - Facilitating signal sharing through Lantern, with a focus on financial institutions. - Improving the actionability of financial sextortion cases reported to NCMEC. - Raising awareness of financial sextortion. - Sharing industry good practices. Thank you to our speakers from: Snap Inc., Meta, TikTok, PayPal, Western Union, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police | Gendarmerie royale du Canada, the Cote d’Ivoire Ministry of the Interior and Security, Nigeria's NATIONAL AGENCY FOR THE PROHIBITION OF TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (NAPTIP), the Department of Justice - Republic of the Philippines , the Philippines National Police, and Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN). Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ekPc9PXk

We were delighted to co-host this research convening with Safe Online earlier this month, at Google’s offices in London. 💡Research has been and continues to be one of the key drivers of progress in preventing online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and we look forward to using the learnings from this event to drive forward further. Read about some of the key insights from participants, along with the wider impact of our Research Fund so far ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/e6mPGASd

🌟Exciting news about our Pathways program! 🌟 We are currently developing a component of our Pathways program - Elevate - which is set to launch in 2025. Designed to strengthen Child Safety Programs, Elevate provides companies with the knowledge and expertise needed to be well-positioned for Tech Coalition membership. We are looking for a tech company to pilot this program with us for free! The ideal candidate would already have a strong foundation for their Child Safety Program and would have time and resources to spend on strengthening it (commitment will vary depending on the company’s status). Think your company is a great fit? Apply now to be our Elevate pilot partner and join us in driving impactful change in online safety for children. ⤵ https://lnkd.in/eBGMsydt 

✋ Sextortion is never the victim’s fault—especially when it involves a child. We are proud to support our member Meta's Instagram campaign to raise awareness and prevent the spread of intimate images. Read their advice on how to respond to sextortion and get help ➡ https://lnkd.in/dz8h33JU

We’re excited to announce the launch of our Developer Good Practices sitelet, now live on the Tech Coalition website! This new publicly available resource is designed to help developers—whether working on social media, dating apps, or other platforms—take proactive steps in combating Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA). It covers: • Understanding OCSEA harm types • Setting up a basic team structure • Implementing processes to identify, respond to, and prevent OCSEA A big thank you to the team at Google for highlighting the need for this resource and for sharing valuable insights and feedback during its creation. 💻 Check it out and learn how your team can help make the online world safer for children! https://lnkd.in/eEZviZaG

If you’re going to be at the All Tech Is Human event in San Fransisco this week, make sure you say hi to our new Membership Development Manager, Sophia Dominguez!

💻 Tech industry collaboration in action! 🚀 We’re thrilled to share the outcomes of Initiate 2024, our third annual hackathon, hosted by Yahoo in London last week. Tech specialists, engineers, and child safety leaders united to accelerate innovation in the fight against online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA). Key achievements include: 🔹 Meta launched improvements to ThreatExchange, the underlying tech of Lantern. 🔹 Google unveiled its latest Content Safety API model, strengthening privacy frameworks and speeding up media processing to enhance CSAM detection. 🔹 Our cross-platform signal-sharing program, Lantern, saw significant progress, with two companies completing its integration during the event.  🔹 The Hasher-Matcher-Actioner (HMA) open-source project made major strides, with Patreon adopting HMA as part of the hackathon. We also integrated PhotoDNA into HMA, making it easier and more cost-effective for platforms to scale their CSAM detection efforts. We’re proud of these collective achievements and excited to continue the momentum with our members. The progress made at #Initiate2024 brings us closer to a safer online world for children. 👉 Read more about the impact here: https://lnkd.in/eTZ4eSsS Thank you to everyone who participated and helped drive these innovations forward! #TechForGood #OCSEA #ProgramLantern #Innovation #OnlineSafety

Yesterday, we brought together our members from across the tech industry with our research grantees at the 2024 Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund Convening in London. It was a space for learning, translating, and making connections — building on the collective insights and experiences from both sectors. Key highlights: 💡Innovative strategies shared by Tech Coalition members and Research Fund grantees 🗯️In-depth technical workshops translating research insights into actionable industry practices 🤝Co-creating solutions to overcome barriers in research-industry collaboration, strengthening partnerships in the online safety landscape By aligning research with industry needs, we can drive forward practical, data-driven approaches that address emerging threats and create safer online spaces for children. Thanks to Google for hosting this crucial event, our partners at Safe Online and all the participants for a great, productive day!

We’ve just added a new resource to our Pathways Resource Hub, supporting employees of technology companies to start CSAM detection using Hashing and Matching. Introductory Overview of Hashing and Matching for CSAM Detection provides an overview of:  ➡ What is hashing and matching ➡ Different types of hashing algorithms ➡ Considerations for how to choose a hash algorithm and implement it ➡ Recommendations for comparing against exchanges, reviewing and reporting. 📣 We are also pleased to share that the Tech Coalition can assist with obtaining a free license for PhotoDNA to qualified entities applying through the Pathways Program. Find out more and apply to join Pathways: https://lnkd.in/ePDjVS4F