By Susie Hargreaves OBE, IWF CEO.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is delighted to celebrate a decade of partnership with NetSupport
Explore how IWF confronts the rise of AI-generated child sexual abuse material, highlighting emerging threats and efforts to protect children online.
Understand the rise of AI-generated CSAM in our 2025 Annual Data & Insights Report. We analyse the evolving threats and challenges posed by AI tools.
In 2024, IWF assessed over 424,000 reports, confirming 291,273 contained or linked to child sexual abuse imagery, with 91% being 'self-generated' content.
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.