Global Platform for Child Exploitation Policy

Terminology

Around the world, stakeholders use various terms—in various languages—to discuss the same or similar concepts concerning child sexual exploitation. Some of those terms are widely used and understood, while others are not.

This page includes numerous words and phrases and their definitions as used by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which operates the Global Platform for Child Exploitation Policy. NCMEC's use of these terms and definitions may be influenced by U.S. laws, which impact many of NCMEC's operations, but—except where specifically noted—these are not legal definitions articulated in any particular law.

Content produced or contributed by other individuals or organizations may use different terminology or similar terminology with different meanings. Translations may not fully capture the intended meaning of a word or phrase in its original language or cultural/societal context.

NCMEC recommends consulting the Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the “Luxembourg Guidelines”) for additional information about terminology.

Terminology
age assurance
a principle—usually associated with protecting children from exposure to harm—under which a variety of processes or methods to estimate or determine a user's age are used to implement and enforce policies related to age restrictions on access to information, content, or services
age estimation
a type of age assurance process through which the approximate or relative age of an individual is estimated, such as by analyzing physical developmental markers or behavioral indicators
age verification
a type of age assurance process through which the exact age of an individual is confirmed, such as by examining official identity documents, to grant or prohibit access to certain information, content, or services
child
an individual under the age of 18 years
child sex trafficking
a type of child exploitation in which a child is advertised, solicited or exploited related to a commercial sex act; see 18 U.S.C. § 1591

"Child Sex Trafficking" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
child sexual molestation
a form of child abuse or exploitation in which a child is subjected to physical contact of a sexual manner

"Child Sexual Molestation" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
CMT
NCMEC's Case Management Tool, a free online system through which NCMEC makes CyberTipline reports available to law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions around the world, allowing authorized users to triage, manage, and organize CyberTipline reports
commercial sex act
"any sex act, on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person;" see 18 U.S.C. § 1591 (non-monetary things of value may include—but are not limited to—food, drugs, or shelter)
crime victim compensation
typically statutorily authorized payments to a crime victim from the government (often funded by fines and fees paid by convicted offenders)
cryptographic hashing
a process using a mathematical algorithm to transform electronic data into a string of characters of a fixed length (depending on the algorithm used) based on the data's content. The string, known as a hash or hash value, can be compared against other hashes or hash values to determine whether two files are identical (such as duplicate images or videos).
CSAM
child sexual abuse material; visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct involving a child; similar to common uses of other terms, including child pornography, child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), etc.; see 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8)

"Child Pornography (possession, manufacture, and distribution)" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
CVIP
NCMEC's Child Victim Identification Program, which serves as the U.S. clearinghouse on identified victims of CSAM, conducts analysis of images and other data to help locate unidentified child victims depicted in CSAM so they can be identified and protected, and supports efforts by the U.S. federal justice system for victim notification and restitution
CyberTipline
NCMEC's CyberTipline is the world's largest reporting system for suspected sexual exploitation of children. Members of the public and registered online platforms can make reports of suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, child sexual molestation, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), child sex tourism/extraterritorial child sexual abuse and exploitation, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the internet. See 34 U.S.C. § 11293(b)(1)(K).

When U.S.-based online platforms become aware of instances on their platforms involving child sexual abuse material, online enticement of children for sexual purposes, or sex trafficking of children, they are required to make reports to the CyberTipline pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2258A.
end-to-end encryption
technology that blocks or prevents any third party from accessing, viewing, reading, or becoming aware of information that one individual has sent to another through an online communication service; abbreviated as "E2EE"
escalation
a notation on a CyberTipline report, added by either a reporting online platform or a NCMEC analyst, indicating a reason that the report had a higher level of urgency
exploitative content
imagery that may not be considered unlawful CSAM but which nonetheless violates the privacy of depicted children and/or is used in a sexually exploitative manner
extraterritorial child sexual abuse and exploitation
a form of child sexual abuse and exploitation in which the offender physically travels from one jurisdiction to another for purposes of engaging in sex crimes against a child; also referred to as "child sex tourism" and "sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism"

"Child Sex Tourism" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
GAI CSAM
CSAM created, at least in part, by generative artificial intelligence technology
generative artificial intelligence
computer systems that can create original text, image, video, or audio content—and/or modify existing content—usually in response to inputs or prompts from a user (CSAM created using generative artificial intelligence is referred to as "GAI CSAM")
hash sharing initiatives
NCMEC activities related to the compilation of hash values derived from imagery depicting CSAM, exploitative content, and GAI CSAM into lists made available to online platforms that may voluntarily use the hash lists to support efforts to detect and remove harmful content
industry classification
an identifier composed of a letter (indicating apparent physiological development of a depicted child) and a number (indicating the severity of sexually explicit conduct depicted) developed and applied by various online platforms to uniformly and quickly categorize images and videos they report to the CyberTipline:

1 – Sex Act2 – Lascivious Exhibition
A – Prepubescent MinorA1A2
B – Pubescent MinorB1B2
informational report
a CyberTipline report in which (1) the reporting online platform or member of the public provides insufficient information to take further action or (2) the reported imagery is considered viral or a meme—perhaps shared out of outrage or bad humor—and reported many times
misleading domain name
a word or phrase—sometimes intentionally misspelled—in an Internet domain or website address intended to deceive an unsuspecting user into viewing content that is obscene or otherwise "harmful to minors;" see 18 U.S.C. § 2252B

"Misleading Domain Name" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
misleading words or digital images on the Internet
words or digital images—whether viewable or nonviewable—on a website intended to deceive an unsuspecting user into viewing content that is obscene or otherwise "harmful to minors;" see 18 U.S.C. 2252C

"Misleading Words or Digital Images on the Internet" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
NCMEC
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
online enticement
a broad category of online exploitation that involves an individual communicating via the internet with someone believed to be a child with the intent to commit a sexual offense or abduction; see 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b). Sextortion (also defined on this page) is a form of online enticement.

"Online Enticement of Children for Sexual Acts" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
online platform
a company or service that provides some sort of telecommunication or Internet-connected function such as transmission or storage of data, communication, or remote computing; generally understood to be a "provider" as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2258E(6); also informally referred to as an "ESP" (electronic service provider)
perceptual hashing
a process using a mathematical algorithm to transform multimedia data into a string of characters based on the data’s perceptual characteristics (how it looks or sounds to a human observer). A perceptual hashing algorithm will generate similar hash values for visually similar images, even if the images are not identical at the binary level.
policy
a high-level plan or approach to address a particular issue or problem
predatory text
a victim’s personal identifying information disclosed by someone else with intent to harass, exert influence over, or otherwise harm the victim
Priority 1
a notation by NCMEC on a CyberTipline report indicating a current or imminent risk to a child
Priority 2
a notation by NCMEC on a CyberTipline report indicating possible risk to a child in the near future
Priority 3
a notation by NCMEC on a CyberTipline report indicating that additional information is needed to determine risk to a child
Priority E
a notation by NCMEC on a CyberTipline report indicating that it was submitted by an online platform and does not rise to the level of a priority 1 or 2
public report
a CyberTipline report filed by someone other than an online platform, typically a member of the public
referral
a CyberTipline report made available to law enforcement in which the reporting online platform or member of the public provided sufficient information—usually including user details, imagery, and a possible location—for law enforcement investigative consideration
restitution
typically court-ordered payments by a convicted offender to a victim as an economic remedy for harm inflicted by the offender; known as "reparations" in some jurisdictions
safety by design
an approach to product and service development in which safety is a central feature and concern from the beginning, rather than an afterthought or add-on after a product or service has been launched
sextortion
a form of child sexual exploitation in which a child is extorted—most often with the threat of publicly sharing nude or sexual images of them—by a person who demands additional sexual content, sexual activity, or money from the child. When the offender demands money in some form, the conduct is referred to as "financial sextortion."
survivor
a person who is in the process of recovering from a traumatic experience, including criminal victimization
unsolicited obscene material sent to a child
a form of child sexual exploitation—closely related to online enticement—in which an offender sends obscene material to a child under 16 years old; see 18 U.S.C. § 1470

"Unsolicited Obscene Material Sent to a Child" is an incident type a reporting party can select when submitting a CyberTipline report.
victim
a person against whom a crime has been committed
victim notification
a process through which victims of CSAM may be entitled to notification when images in which they are depicted are part of a legal proceeding or criminal case