Verizon’s efforts to combat online child exploitation FAQs

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.

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.

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.

*Totals do not include reports filed by Yahoo, Inc. (f/k/a Verizon Media), which was divested by Verizon in September 2021.