Tamsin McNally, Hotline Manager at the IWF, appeared live on National BBC Breakfast news to warn about the increasing prevalence of “sextortion” online.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is delighted to celebrate a decade of partnership with NetSupport
“Imagine your darkest moments exposed to an unknown number of people. Then imagine strangers watching your pain for sexual satisfaction. That’s what happens for some of the children whose abuse images we see online."
New Head of Hotline role identified as ‘pivotal’ in the Internet Watch Foundation's mission to tackle child sexual abuse material online among growing threats such as AI generated imagery.
Three years ago, when Pinsent Masons set out to unite their communities to raise money for the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), no one could have predicted how far their idea would go or how many people would still be moving for the cause three years later.
Parents across the world are calling for clearer, stronger action to keep children safe online.
IWF CEO Kerry Smith welcomes TikTok’s decision to prioritise child protection over end‑to‑end encryption.
On 3 April, essential child protection systems used by technology companies to detect and remove online child sexual abuse material will become illegal to operate in the EU unless the European Parliament votes to extend the current legal framework. A temporary law allowing voluntary detection is expiring, and political deadlock has stalled a permanent solution. This will create a dangerous legal vacuum that perpetrators are aware of and poised to exploit. Proven tools like hash‑matching - which do not compromise privacy - would be forced offline, enabling millions of known abusive images to resurface. Research shows these systems deter offenders and make access harder; disabling them will reverse this progress. MEPs have one final chance to act by voting for an amendment that preserves protections for children across Europe.
The IWF warns that the EU’s failure to extend the temporary derogation will force platforms to halt proactive detection of child sexual abuse, putting children at serious risk.
We've partnered with CHI to build capacity amongst international helpline staff to deal with online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services company, Spark, joins the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), to help keep the internet free from child sexual abuse content.