Google Donates £1m To Internet Watch Foundation Amidst Child Abuse Controversy

Ahead of a meeting between tech companies and the government to talk about what more could be done to prevent access to child abuse content on the Internet, Google has handed the Internet Watch Foundation almost enough money to run the charity for a year.

Google gave the Internet Watch Foundation, which seeks out and reports illegal content from the Internet, £1 million. The IWF said the extra money meant it would be able to double the size of its internet content analysis team.

A ‘generous donation’

“This is an incredibly generous donation and Google is demonstrating moral leadership in the field,” said Susie Hargreaves, Internet Watch Foundation CEO.

“This contribution will significantly boost our work to meet our vision eliminating online child sexual abuse content. We are experts at doing this and like any organisation we can do more, with more resource.

“We’ve been talking to Google about how we can do more together. This donation will directly fund additional skilled analysts who are the forefront of tackling some of the most horrendous content on the internet.”

Scott Rubin, director of communications and public affairs at Google, said the tech titan has “a zero-tolerance policy on child sexual abuse content”.

“This grant is part of a broader package of measures we are putting in place with other international agencies to help tackle this problem at a global scale.”

Google, Facebook and others are set to meet with culture minister Maria Miller, after she expressed concern about what they were doing to prevent child abuse images appearing online. Miller is also concerned about  “extremist material”. They will meet on 17 June.

Prime Minister David Cameron agreed more action could be taken, given tech firms’ “extraordinary technical abilities” to “root out” child abuse images online.

The tough stance from government appears to be in response to the murders of soldier Lee Rigby and five-year-old April Jones.

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