Google shares details on efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation, abuse

Leveraging specialized, trained teams of people and cutting-edge technology such as hash-matching software like CSAI Match and machine learning classifiers that can identify never-before-seen CSAM imagery, Google proactively scans its platforms for potential CSAM and identifies potentially abusive content to remove and report it as quickly as possible.

Google on Wednesday shared more details about its work, including new efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse on its platforms, and how the search giant is supporting organizations committed to protecting kids online.

"Across Google and YouTube, we are always working to protect our users from harmful content, especially the kind of horrific, illegal content referred to as child sexual abuse material (CSAM). We have invested in the teams, tools, and resources to deter, remove, and report this kind of content, and to help other companies do so. But we know this issue cannot be solved by any one company alone, and we're committed to tackling it with others in our industry and partners who are dedicated to protecting children around the world," Google wrote in a blog post.

Leveraging specialized, trained teams of people and cutting-edge technology such as hash-matching software like CSAI Match and machine learning classifiers that can identify never-before-seen CSAM imagery, Google proactively scans its platforms for potential CSAM and identifies potentially abusive content to remove and report it as quickly as possible.

To tackle online child sexual exploitation and abuse, Google is working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that tracks reports from platforms and individuals and forwards those reports to law enforcement agencies around the world.

As part of the ongoing efforts to fight CSAM, Google recently launched a new transparency report, detailing the number of reports it made to NCMEC in the first and second half of 2020. The report also includes information on how the company detects and removes CSAM results from Google Search, and how many accounts are disabled for CSAM violations across its services.

Over the course of this year, Google said it will expand a feature where users who enter CSAM-related queries are shown a prominent message that it is illegal whilst providing instructions on how to report such content to their local authorities.

Google is also working with leading child safety organizations like the WeProtect Global Alliance, Thorn, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children that are creating real and lasting change for children.