Your questions. Our answers.
What is Verizon’s approach to preventing the dissemination of child sexual abuse material?
Verizon has a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and operates a robust digital safety program designed to detect and remove CSAM from our platforms. Verizon’s efforts are spearheaded by a dedicated digital safety lead who has visibility across the whole of the company.
How does Verizon identify child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms?
Verizon leverages a combination of automated scanning and human review to detect CSAM:Verizon uses PhotoDNA technology, which is capable of matching the digital signature of an uploaded image to large databases of known CSAM maintained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC);We also make extensive use of human reviewers, who evaluate the images detected through automated scanning and ensure that all confirmed CSAM is reported to NCMEC;Finally, we carefully review and take action on abuse reports sent to us by child safety organizations like NCMEC and the Internet Watch Foundation, as well as reports sent by our users to our dedicated email address: abuse-csam@verizon.com.
What does Verizon do when it finds CSAM?
Verizon reports all CSAM to NCMEC, which acts as a clearinghouse for law enforcement and passes reports for offenders located outside of the US to partner agencies in the relevant country. Verizon includes in its reporting subscriber information for the user who uploaded the CSAM, which helps NCMEC identify the offender.
How many CSAM reports has Verizon filed with NCMEC?
Here is a year-by-year breakdown of the number of reports filed:
2024: 18,064
2023: 37,106
2022: 30,903
2021: 3,527
2020: 2,187
2019: 391
*Totals do not include reports filed by Yahoo, Inc. (f/k/a Verizon Media), which was divested by Verizon in September 2021.