Nominet is funding Internet Matters to carry out research into the growing problem of self-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Internet Matters is a not-for-profit, industry-funded members body that helps families stay safe online, providing resources for parents, carers and the educational profession.
Headline figures from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) show that:
- CSAM rose from 38,500 cases in 2019 to 199,000 in 2022.
- Nearly 80% of all webpages actioned by the IWF in 2022 contained self-generated imagery.
- Children aged 11-13 appear most frequently in ‘self-generated’ imagery.
As Eleanor Bradley, Managing Director, Registry and Public Benefit at Nominet says: “The threats to young people online are ever-changing, and we’re seeing the scale of this online harm growing at an alarming rate. It’s important that we help young people protect themselves from exploitation.” “The technology industry needs to act fast and make greater efforts to prevent this material from being created, and we’re playing our part by supporting Internet Matters to design and deliver the responses needed to this problem.”
Our funding will enable a research team to work with panels of young people, parents and teachers to create messaging to dissuade young people from requesting, creating and sharing self-generated CSAM.
Researchers will also explore how best to deliver this prevention messaging, whether through the curriculum, in pastoral interventions, or directly to young people through peers, influencers, campaigns or tech solutions.
Simone Vibert, Head of Policy and Research at Internet Matters, says: “Efforts to remove [CSAM] from circulation are necessary and important – but so is preventing its creation in the first place. There has been limited success in identifying how most effectively to dissuade young people from sharing nude images. We are excited to partner with Nominet on this pioneering research project which will explore this theme with young people, parents and teachers, helping to turn the tide on self-generated CSAM.”
You can see Simone talk more about the issue of CSAM and how Nominet’s funding will help in this video: