After 13 successful years at the helm of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), Susie Hargreaves OBE is leaving to take up a new opportunity.
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.
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.