The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a not-for-profit charity, based in Cambridge that works worldwide to ensure the internet is free from child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Every time an image or video is viewed of a child being sexually abused, that child is re-victimised again and again. In their recent annual report, they found one eight-year old victim was displayed on average five times a day. The IWF work to make the internet a safer place for everyone. They protect victims – those who have been rescued and those still suffering from abuse. Their aim is to eliminate child sexual abuse material the world over.

Here at Schools Broadband, we’re proud to have worked officially in partnership with the IWF since 2013, to help in the fight to eliminate this material. Our work in providing specialist internet connections to schools and MATs, together with our education specific web filtering, means that the IWF’s URL list is fully embedded in our products. This means that all the known live websites containing CSAM will be blocked and filtered out, keeping school children safe from stumbling upon horrific content and in turn helps the IWF to prevent the revictimization of already traumatised young people.

By promoting the IWF, you too, can help their analysts to do the key and unenviable job of removing online child sexual abuse images and videos day in, day out. Whilst they are among the only civilians in the world allowed to actively search for this material in order to remove it, they also take reports of this content from members of the public if they’re concerned about what they’ve seen online. Anyone can report CSAM at https://report.iwf.org.uk/en. For further updates from the IWF follow them on Twitter @IWFhotline.