MP visits charity on the front line of the fight against child sexual abuse on the internet

Local MP Ian Sollom learned about the herculean task faced by analysts at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) who find, assess and remove child sexual abuse material on the internet.

The IWF is the UK’s front line against child sexual abuse imagery online and in the past five years alone, the charity has taken down more than one million webpages showing at least one, and often hundreds or thousands of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.

The St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire MP visited the Histon-based charity on Friday (December 6) to tour the IWF’s Hotline and meet with staff to get an understanding of the nature of the work that they do, the challenges they face and the support that is in place to help them. His tour followed an earlier visit from fellow Lib Dem MP Pippa Heylings to the IWF in October.

The Lib Dem MP said he was “impressed by the dedication of the IWF team which works tirelessly to identify and remove harmful content and make the internet a safer place for all.”

Mr Sollom also met with the IWF’s Chief Technology Officer, Dan Sexton, and the charity’s Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Hannah Swirsky, when he heard more about the charity’s key asks of the government, including legislation to prevent AI technology from being exploited to create child sexual abuse material.

Mr Sollom said: “Safety by design must be at the heart of children’s online experiences, and I am committed to working with the Internet Watch Foundation to tackle this issue.

“We must continue pushing for the Online Safety Act to deliver on its promise to transform online safety and ensure that the protection of children on the internet remains a touchstone for all decision making.”

The IWF is one of only a handful of non-law enforcement bodies worldwide with the legal power to pro-actively seek out and remove images and videos of child sexual abuse. It works with tech companies, social media platforms, governments and law enforcement globally to stop the repeated victimisation of survivors whose childhood abuse continues to be shared and circulated online. The charity often host visits from policymakers and other key stakeholders so they can find out more about IWF’s vital work.

Photo (from L to R): Dan Sexton - IWF CTO, Hannah Swirsky - IWF Head of Policy and Public Affairs and Ian Sollom MP.