Protecting Children From Abuse Online For 25 Years

Marking 25 years of combatting online child sexual abuse imagery

In 25 years, our expert analysts assessed 1.8m reports, with human eyes. Of these, 970,000 showed imagery of children being sexually abused. Since 1996, we’ve helped to remove millions of child sexual abuse images and videos from the internet.

Our mission is to remove this material for good, to show every child there is someone out there who cares enough to help.

In 2021, we investigated more reports of suspected child sexual abuse than in the first 15 years of our existence. This is thanks to the dedicated work of our analysts, who spend each and every day assessing some of the most challenging content imaginable. They do this because they know that for every image or video they remove, it stops that child from repeated victimisation and gives that child some hope.

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Each report contains at least one, and sometimes thousands of images which equates to millions of criminal images removed from the internet.

Poet Katie Ailes powerfully captures the impact of our work on the lives of child victims who have suffered this cruel crime in our 25th anniversary film:

IWF 25th Anniversary Film

Meet our analysts protecting children online

We’re breaking new ground in this battle. We have captured the voices and stories of those resilient individuals who work at IWF to stop the repeated sexual abuse of children.

Andrew's story

Beth's story

Clara's story

Daniel's story

Mabel's story

Poppy's story

Rosa's story

Talking with a global voice

Working collaboratively has been our overriding approach. We currently provide 2.6bn people in 50 countries with a way to report criminal child sexual abuse material to us. They’re part of our global network of IWF Reporting Portals, working to strengthen efforts to eliminate child sexual abuse material online. Meet some of our global partners here.

25 years defending children online with IWF's global network of Reporting Portals

Our political & industry support

We bring together people who care about child protection online. We work with the tech community, governments and law enforcement agencies internationally. We come together to talk and act with one voice, to fight child sexual abuse imagery online, to influence policy and to be part of the solution.

It is thanks to these corporate partners across the globe, as well as everyone who has donated over the last 25 years, that we have been able to lead the way in removing child sexual abuse imagery online. If you want to know how you can help by supporting and donating you can find out more here.

Simon Fell MP

Sarah Champion MP

Corporate membership with the IWF

Learn more about our Parliamentary Champions and how your company or organisation can join IWF membership and help stop child sexual abuse online.

Find out more

Learn more about the impact of our work and get up to date with the latest global trends in combatting the distribution of child sexual abuse imagery online by reading our latest Annual Report.

If you work with children or are a parent and carer, you can find out everything you need to know in our resource for parents, carers and teachers, which will help you understand what the risks are for children and how you can take simple steps to protect them online. Learn more at: talk.iwf.org.uk

We spend each and every day assessing some of the most challenging content imaginable. We do this because we know that for every image or video we remove, it stops that child being revictimised and gives that child some hope. Find out more about how you can support us or make a donation.