The UK’s Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the USA’s National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) announce a landmark agreement to better protect children whose sexual abuse images are shared and traded on the internet.
Internet Watch Foundation sees the most extreme year on record in 2023 Annual Report and calls for immediate action to protect very young children online.
Global cybersecurity company Heimdal has joined forces with the Internet Watch Foundation to tackle child sexual abuse imagery online and make the internet a safer space for users.
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.
IWF and Black Forest Labs join forces to combat harmful AI-generated content. The partnership grants the frontier AI lab access to safety tech tools.
The latest data from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reveals a record rise in UK children reporting online sexual extortion, with the Report Remove service now handling an average of nine cases a week. In 2025, the helpline saw a 66% increase in self-reports from under‑18s, confirming 1,175 cases involving harmful imagery — more than a third linked to sexually coerced extortion. Criminals are increasingly exploiting young people’s nude imagery to demand money, further content, or compliance, often using aggressive threats and personal information to create fear and control. Report Remove, run by the IWF in partnership with Childline, allows young people to block or remove nude images of themselves from the internet — even before they are shared. The majority of sextortion cases involved boys aged 14–17, highlighting a growing trend in targeted online abuse. Childline counsellors continue to support children facing blackmail, fear, and isolation. The service remains free, confidential, and available to any young person worried about their imagery being shared online.
Jess Phillips MP shares the government's commitment to ending online child sexual abuse. Discover key policy priorities from the IWF’s 2025 Annual Report.
Tech Secretary sees ‘heartbreaking’ scale of online child sexual abuse on IWF hotline visit as ‘transformational’ online safety rules come into effect
IWF analysts uncover platform hosting chatbot “characters” designed to let users simulate sexual scenarios with child avatars.