Published: Fri 10 Mar 2023
Segpay, a pioneer in digital payment processing, has joined forces with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to stop online child sexual abuse.
The payment platform specialises in online credit card processing for e-commerce and subscription services for global merchants, and as a new IWF Member, it can now access a unique set of tools to help keep child sexual abuse material off the internet.
“We strongly believe in the work that the Internet Watch Foundation does each day as it monitors and investigates thousands of weekly reports to keep minors safe,” said Cathy Beardsley, Segpay CEO.
Some of the services Segpay will use include IWF’s Keywords List that helps to filter and block cryptic terms associated with child sexual abuse imagery, and the unique URL List, a comprehensive list of webpages with confirmed images and videos of child sexual abuse which IWF Members can use to block access to the criminal content.
While access to the imagery is disrupted, the IWF works to have the content removed from the internet. Segpay’s financial services are also kept safe from criminal material through payment brand and virtual currency alerts issued by the IWF. Payment brand alerts give immediate notice if the IWF ever sees the Segpay brand associated with child sexual abuse images online, anywhere in the world.
Susie Hargreaves OBE, Chief Executive of the IWF, said: “Our work is constant but it’s worth the fight, just last year we found and removed more than 255,000 websites containing imagery of children being sexually abused.
“We welcome Segpay as a new partner in this fight who can help to disrupt the volumes of child sexual abuse material being shared online.”
Segpay joins more than 175 tech companies using IWF’s services. Find out more about becoming a Member and the services the IWF can provide here.
The IWF welcomes new measures to help make sure digital tools are safe as new data shows AI child sexual abuse is still spreading.
More than nine in ten people in the UK say they are concerned at how images and videos of children being sexually abused are shared through end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging services.
