Five Countries and tech firms agree groundbreaking principles to keep children safe online
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At an event at the U.S. Department of Justice, the Voluntary
Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and
Abuse were formally launched. They are a set of 11 actions
tech firms should take to ensure children are not sexually
exploited on their platforms. These range from pledges to stop
existing and new child sexual abuse material appearing on
platforms,...Request free trial
At an event at the U.S. Department of Justice, the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse were formally launched. They are a set of 11 actions tech firms should take to ensure children are not sexually exploited on their platforms. These range from pledges to stop existing and new child sexual abuse material appearing on platforms, taking steps to stop the livestreaming of abuse, identify and stop grooming and predatory behaviour, and ensuring they are ahead of the evolving threat. In July the Five Country Ministerial – made up of the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA – agreed to draft the principles, given the global nature of child sexual abuse. They were written in consultation with technology industry representatives. Among the companies to endorse the principles were Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Snap and Roblox. At a roundtable discussion in Washington, attendees from the Five Countries, including Security Minister James Brokenshire and industry, discussed the voluntary principles and the best way to ensure tech companies action them. Home Secretary Priti Patel, said:
The launch of the principles comes against the backdrop of more criminals from across the world using evolving tactics to target children online. Last year, the tech industry reported 69 million child sexual abuse images and videos – up by over 50% in just 12 months. According to the National Strategic Assessment more than 3.5 million accounts are now registered to the world’s most depraved dark web sites. In coordinated operational activity against online child sexual exploitation and abuse, the National Crime Agency and UK police arrest around 500 child sex offenders a month and safeguard about 700 children a month. As part of the launch, the security minister also met the Phoenix 11 – a group of Canadian survivors of child sexual abuse. In collaboration with industry and other stakeholders, the 11 principles are split into six different categories:
The WePROTECT Global Alliance, which currently comprises of 97 governments, 25 technology companies and 30 civil society organisations, will promote the principles across industry and encourage support for the initiative. This wide support will help ensure the principles are taken forward by the technology industry. Security Minister James Brokenshire said:
The voluntary principles are just one way the UK government is taking world-leading action to tackle online child sexual abuse. Soon, the government will launch a first-of-its-kind Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, which will set out an ambitious range of cross-government activity to bear down on offenders, safeguard children and support victims. Recently, the government also announced £30m extra funding for law enforcement to help them tackle online CSEA. Further measures have included:
As part of his visit to Washington, the security minister also attended the Transatlantic Aviation Industry Roundtable, to discuss further collaboration on aviation security solutions. |