MEETING IN LONDON WITH THE INTERNET WATCH FOUNDATION TO LEARN FIRST-HAND ITS FIGHT AGAINST ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

MEP Javier Zarzalejos, who leads the European Parliament report on the Commission’s legislative proposal for the prevention and fight against sexual abuse of minors, met on December 5 in London with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to find out first-hand her fight against online child sexual abuse.

The IWF is an independent, Cambridge-based, non-profit organization whose mission is to search for and remove any online records of child sexual abuse. Born in 1996, they have become one of the leading expert organizations in the field of criminal content location and removal.

The images that their analysts remove range from baby abuse to adolescent bullying. Led by Susie Hargreaves, CEO of the Foundation, Zarzalejos had the opportunity to meet the human teams that are dedicated to this psychologically difficult task.

In addition, a large part of the visit was dedicated to learning about the technological tools that the Foundation uses to detect illegal content.

It also discussed how the IWF works in collaboration with other charities and, specifically, with INHOPE, which manages 51 hotlines for reporting child pornography in 45 countries.

Finally, the MEP was able to find out how the Foundation collaborates with the Ministry of the Interior and the British security forces and highlighted “the importance of exchanging good practices with the United Kingdom”.

The MEP wanted to “value the work carried out by civil society organizations such as the IWF and recognize that thanks to them the Internet is a safer place for all children.”

He stressed that the European Commission’s legislative proposal is a pioneer worldwide and gives the Union the opportunity to lead the fight against online sexual abuse of minors and establish global standards.

When the regulations are approved, the European Union will be the first region in the world where it will be a legal obligation for internet providers to implement measures to prevent the sexual abuse of minors and the detection and elimination of this type of material.