105,047 URLs to be exact. That’s the most in IWF history—since they began in 1996. The 2018 report also marks the lowest levels of child sexual abuse imagery hosted in the UK—with just 41 URLs, or 0.04% of the global total. When IWF began 23 years ago, the UK hosted 18%.
With the release of their 2018 Annual Report entitled, ‘Once Upon a Year’, the IWF tells the true story of a child, Olivia, who was sexually abused from the age of three she was eight. Despite her rescue in 2013, IWF analysts continue to find images of her abuse shared online.
The IWF’s improvements in technology and anonymous reporting portals around the world have helped speed up the detection and assessment of imagery online. They will continue to work with law enforcement and focus their efforts on countries with the highest abuse rates to find and take down harmful content.
“For 23 years we have been removing from the internet images and videos showing the sexual abuse of children… Despite us removing more and more images than ever before, and despite creating and using some of the world’s leading technology, it’s clear that this problem is far from being solved.”
“The cause of the problem is the demand. Unfortunately, and as the police tell us often, there are 100,000 people sitting in the UK right now demanding images of the abuse of children like Olivia. This is a global challenge and no doubt every country’s police force will have their own estimations of this criminality.
– CEO Susie Hargreaves OBE
zvelo is proud to support the IWF’s cause and help make the internet a safer and more secure place for everyone! For the full annual report and to learn more about their mission, visit IWF’s website here.
