CyberTipline Sees Surge in Reports of Child Abuse Imagery

This week, news broke around a surge in reports of child abuse imagery to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) across many online networks during the first week in July.

On average, NCMEC receives around 15,000 reports per week. However, during the first week in July, their CyberTipline received over 92,000 reports of child abuse imagery. While this may seem like bad news, the surge in reports of child abuse imagery does not necessarily indicate an increase in the number of images being uploaded. In fact, this anomaly in reports could reflect a positive trend in increased reporting, removal, and identification around images that may have existed in the shadows for years.

With an increase in reports, NCMEC is able to work to remove sexually abusive images of children, and help those children get the assistance they need. When industry and the public report child abuse imagery to either NCMEC, through the CyberTipline, or to law enforcement, the reporting mechanism assists in the detection, investigation and prosecution of child sexual exploitation crimes.

Child Abuse Imagery is Being Removed Faster Than Ever

In 2013, NCMEC’s CyberTipline received more than 500,000 reports of suspected child sexual exploitation. A majority of the reports came directly from electronic service providers (ESPs), and many involved images that appeared to depict the sexual abuse of children. Based on the remaining reports, NCMEC sent over 10,000 notices to ESPs, informing them of suspected illegal content on their networks.

“When we receive reports, we notify electronic service providers, who take action to remove this content from their networks. In 2013, ESPs decreased their average removal time to less than two days – a 54.8% decrease from the year before.” – Roarke Lynch, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

If you have information regarding possible child sexual exploitation, contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 24 hours a day at 1-800-THE-LOST or report it online to the CyberTipline.

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