Will deal with child sexual abuse imagery with a firm hand

74000 online ‘child sexual abuse imagery’ violations were reported to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) last year, out of which 30,000 were removed from the internet. This was announced during a seminar organised jointly by Bahrain's Public Prosecution and IWF online.

During the seminar, IWF Director Fred Langford spoke about the exploitation of children online and its impacts on the society, with the rise of social media platforms.

"Our foundation is receiving tips on child sexual abuse imagery by our associates and supporters. Some of the materials could be crimalised," Langford said during the event.

"Our work is producing tangible results, as 52,000 child abuse imagery cases were reported in 2013 and we managed to erase 13,000 of the content. In 2014, we were tipped on 74,000 cases, out of which we managed the removal of 30,000," he explained. 

"We keep a record for all the cases, to be able take legal action against the offenders," he concluded.

It's worth to note that the IWF is a charity and self-regulatory body set up in 1996 to take reports of suspected criminal content from the public, police and IT professionals and remove them from the internet.

Over the past years, it has also introduced intelligence-based search tactics, which has allowed it to find imagery and videos on its own.

Pic: Fred Langford