IWF joins with partners to transform the global response for victims and survivors of online child sexual abuse

The Internet Watch Foundation has joined with a consortium of partners to develop the Artemis Survivor Hub (ASH) – a revolutionary, victim-focused response to online child sexual exploitation.

Thanks to funding from Safe Online and the Graham Dacre Foundation, the partnership, comprising IPPPRI, Child Rescue Coalition (CRC), Protect Children and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), has begun work to develop the project, which will change the way that victims of online abuse are treated when their images are shared online. The consortium is also being supported by James Marsh Law Firm.

Latest IWF data shows that more than 424,000 reports were made to their service in 2024, whereby individuals believe a web page to contain images and videos of child sexual abuse. Of these reports, more than 291,000 were found to contain child sexual abuse imagery. 

Globally – Childlight’s Into the Light Index showed that in 2024, 10 cases of online sexual abuse were reported every second and that 300million+ children have been affected by abusive online behaviour.

Currently, the global law enforcement response to tackling online images of child sexual abuse focuses on targeting offenders, often neglecting the long-term trauma of survivors whose abuse images continue to circulate online, long after the law enforcement response to their abuse is over.   

The Artemis Survivor Hub builds on Operation Artemis, pioneered by CRC, which matches identifiers assigned to a sexual abuse image, known as ‘hashes’, with a small cohort of identified survivors to remove them from the internet and to pursue offenders in possession of them.

The hub expands this concept and establishes a holistic service for more survivors of child sexual abuse material.

ASH will transform the current response to survivors, by:

1. Matching survivors with the ‘hashes’ of their images, enabling law enforcement to actively target offenders.  
2. Using those hashes to actively search for and remove their images from circulation, motivating technology companies to proactively remove images of known survivors.
3. Providing victim impact statements for criminal proceedings, making a global statement that child sexual abuse imagery is never victimless.
4. Enabling free legal representation to pursue criminal restitution and civil remedy.
5. Offering a suite of e-resources supporting the recovery of survivors and families. 

Each partner will contribute a key component of the hub:

The Internet Watch Foundation will provide the portal to enable survivors to submit their abuse imagery.

Child Rescue Coalition will provide the technical capability to identify and match ‘hashes’ and provide law enforcement with the information they need to pursue offenders.

Protect Children will provide a range of holistic support resources.

IPPPRI will analyse and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the project with a view to continuously improving the service offered to survivors.

Marsh Law Firm will also be supporting the project partners by providing free legal support to pursue criminal restitution for those survivors wishing to seek civil remedy following their abuse. 

Now that funding has been secured, work will begin to deliver a pilot of the project in five countries: the UK, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Morocco. 

The pilot will run for 18 months before a full evaluation takes place to develop a blueprint for maximising the global reach and impact of the survivor hub approach.

Graham Dacre of the Graham Dacre Foundation, who provided match funding for the project explains: “As we all learn more about the scale of online child abuse, it also becomes clear that the long-term impact of the trauma experienced by victims/survivors is significant, and affecting hundreds of thousands of young people across the world. 

“At present, they are not being supported in the best possible way, and they have little ability to control what happens to the images of their abuse, what happens to offenders, and they often receive no specialist support to help them recover. 

"I'm delighted therefore to be able to support the development of the Artemis Survivor Hub, which aims to put the needs of victims first, whilst addressing all of these issues in tailored, informed ways. I look forward to hearing about the success of the pilot and how the learning will be used to better serve victim/survivors globally.”

IWF Interim CEO Derek Ray-Hill said: “It is a sad truth that not only do survivors have to bear the emotional and physical scars of the sexual abuse that they suffered but they are also repeatedly victimised every time images and videos of that abuse is shared and viewed online.

“For too long survivors have been alone in their struggle but now, thanks to the funding from Safe Online and Graham Dacre, we can show that there are others fighting on their side. We are proud to take part in this much-needed project that rightly puts the needs of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse at its very heart. By bringing together the wealth of expertise in this consortium, we aim to give survivors a sense of control over the imagery that has been haunting them and provide them with the support they desperately deserve.

“Last year IWF analysts recorded more reports of child sexual abuse imagery than ever before and the demand for this criminal imagery shows no sign of abating. Through this revolutionary project we can seek to cause even more disruption to the distribution of child sexual abuse material and have a global impact on the way we work with victims and survivors.”  

Further information on the development of the pilot project will be shared in the coming months.