ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FROM THE SAFEGUARDING TEAM RE THE SHARING OF IMAGES OR VIDEOS ONLINE

We all know that the use of social media, apps and gaming is now the norm amongst most age groups, but especially youngsters.

Whilst the young people we engage with are involved in sport and may have a social circle at their club / training group, they will undoubtedly also have friendship groups at school and online.

Unfortunately, it is well documented that there are people (abusers) all over the world who prey on young and vulnerable people by communicating with them online.

These abusers are often experienced at online grooming, skilled at manipulating young minds and getting them to do things they ordinarily would not do, i.e. taking and sharing nude or sexually explicit images or videos.

Childline – Report Remove

Report Remove is a new and innovative tool to help young people under 18 (UK) to confidentially report sexual images and videos of themselves found on the internet and have them removed.

It’s against the law for anyone to share a sexual image or video of someone who’s under 18.

Full information about the tool can be found here

Childline are working with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and Yoti to help people under the age of 18 remove any sexual image or video of themselves that’s found online.

Report Remove is safe, easy and free to use by following the steps as outlined in this link Report Remove | Childline

What counts as a Nude Image?

A nude image must include one of the following (to be removed): nude or semi-nude sexual posing; someone nude or semi-nude touching themselves in a sexual way; any sexual activity involving a child; someone hurting someone else sexually or sexual activity that includes animals.

 FAQs:

How long will it take for the image to be removed?

IWF will read all reports within one working day, from Monday to Friday. The time it takes to get your image removed from the internet can be different depending on where the image is hosted.

How will I know if the image has been removed?

Childline will do their best to let you know once your image has been removed by sending a message to your Childline locker.  If more information is needed, you will be advised in the locker. IWF do not contact you. It is all done via Childline.

Will anyone find out the image has been reported?

When you use Report Remove, your image or video is shared with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). Most of the time, nobody will know that you’ve made a report and your report won’t be shared with anyone else.

If the police already have the image or video you report, then they might investigate what’s happened. Only the police can decide if they’ll need to tell someone else.

Why would the Police have the image or video already?

The police might already have your image or video if: someone has reported it on another website and that website passed it to the police; they’re investigating someone who had or has the image or video already (if someone is found to have your image and is breaking the law – regardless of how, it may be included as evidence in a criminal case against that person or someone else reported the image to them directly.

Where will the image be removed from?

The IWF can remove images that are public or available to anyone on the internet. However, they won’t be able to remove images or videos on encrypted networks like WhatsApp, or which are saved on a person’s phone or computer.

Who are the Internet Watch Foundation?

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK charity, are there to help remove illegal nude images of under 18s posted online. Further details on the IWF can be found here

Information you give to Childline
Any information you give Childline will always be treated carefully and in line with their privacy policy. The information given will only be used to help the IWF review the report and to keep you safe. No information is shared with Yoti.  Childline will never see what pictures, videos or URLs you share with the IWF.

Information given to IWF The only information given to IWF are the images, videos or URLs of what you wish to report. There is space to add information such as where the image or video is on a webpage.

Information given to Yoti
Yoti can be used to confirm your age if you’re over 13. This may involve taking a selfie, so Yoti know it is you who are proving your age, and uploading a picture of some ID. Any personal data you send Yoti - like your photo, date of birth or address – is scrambled with a high level of encryption so that even if it was stolen, no one could use it to identify you. The only information Yoti shares with Childline is confirmation that you’re under or over 18.

Using ID

You can use the following ID to confirm your identity using Yoti: passport or biometric residence permit; driving licence and provisional licence; Young Scot Card (Yoti app only) or CitizenCard (Yoti app only).

Other information

If you want to report something that isn’t a nude image or video to see if it can be taken down, you can see more information from Childline about deleting things shared online here.

You can also make a report to CEOP, the part of the police who are there to support children and young people online. More information can be found here