New Internet Watch Foundation data reveals a sharp rise in commercial child sexual abuse websites, with criminal gangs monetising children’s exploitation through subscription models and digital payments. The charity warns of systemic failures across online platforms, financial services and encrypted technologies that allow abuse to flourish. As reports of sexual extortion surge, particularly targeting boys, the IWF calls for stronger regulation of payment systems, encryption safeguards and decisive government action to disrupt the online economy of child sexual exploitation.
On 28 April 2025, the IWF hosted MPs, peers, and staffers in Parliament to discuss the urgent findings of our 2024 Annual Data & Insights Report.
IWF supports the Online Safety Act by helping adult sites detect, remove, and prevent child sexual abuse imagery online.
The UK Alliance Tackling Online CSEA (UK ATOC), made up of the IWF, NSPCC, Save the Children, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, the UK Safer Internet Centre, Childnet, the Marie Collins Foundation, SWGfL and the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, has responded to the UK Government's announcement of a social media ban for under-16s. While the alliance welcomes the Government's recognition that a ban alone cannot tackle the full scale of online harm to children, it sets out why lasting protection depends on a wider, system-wide approach, including stronger safeguards for encrypted environments, safety-by-design requirements for online services, and a strengthened Online Safety Act. The response includes a detailed table mapping how different interventions, from the social media ban to nudity detection and CSAM blocking technologies, contribute to tackling specific online harms such as grooming, sexual extortion and image-based abuse.
DoubleVerify, a leader in digital advertising, has partnered with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to proactively disrupt the spread of child sexual abuse material and make the internet safer for everyone.
UK internet service provider Glide is aligning with the Internet Watch Foundation to help eliminate child sexual abuse material online
The IWF’s ‘Think Before You Share’ campaign, created with agency Consider, has been named Communications Campaign of the Year at the 2026 Third Sector Awards and won Gold for Behaviour Change Campaign of the Year at the 2026 Global Good Awards. The campaign helped drive a 77% rise in young people using Report Remove to get nude images taken down.
Discover how IWF collaborates globally to eradicate online child sexual abuse, focusing on innovation, partnerships and safeguarding efforts.
Crucial perspectives from a survivor and a senior analyst at the front line of the fight against child sexual abuse material anchored the EU launch of the Internet Watch Foundation’s 2025 Annual Data & Insights Report.