INHOPE will set up three new hotlines in countries where a reporting mechanism for CSAM online does not exist through the Tides Project, supported by Google.org. Throughout 2022 and 2023, INHOPE will work closely with key stakeholders in three new countries to set up a national response to CSAM online.

Target countries for this project are selected based on the INHOPE Country Assessment Framework tool. The assessment framework explores and analyses different criteria which are important to tackle the production and distribution of CSAM online in a given country. Such aspects are, but are not limited to, geopolitical factors and rate of CSAM hosting, that provide INHOPE with the capacity to decide whether a hotline should be established in a given country.

Understanding what a hotline means

A hotline cannot operate in a stand-alone manner without support and strong collaboration with the national stakeholders including the national law enforcement agency, industry partners and governmental institutions. INHOPE supports the prospective hotline organisations in establishing these relationships and provides them with best practices, templates and tools to set up a hotline operation within their country.

Within the Tides project INHOPE organizes roundtables with the prospective hotline organisation and the relevant industry, law enforcement, and government stakeholders in each country. Once support is established, local staff members are trained on how to process and assess CSAM reports received from the public and how to implement the necessary (security) measures to safely operate a hotline. Simultaneously, INHOPE supports the prospective hotline in raising awareness of the need to establish a hotline and tackle the ever-growing problem of CSAM online.

Is there a hotline in your country?

Are policymakers and internet companies in your country aware of the existence of an INHOPE hotline? Let us know by reaching out to samantha.woolfe@inhope.org and we can support the establishment of a hotline if there isn’t one.