EOKM Jaarverslag 2022

EOKM Annual Report 2022

The Expertise Centre on Online Child Abuse (EOKM) derives from the Child Sexual Exploitation Materials (CSEM) Hotline that was established in 1996. Its mission is to combat (online) sexual child abuse. EOKM is the umbrella organisation for three programmes: the CSEM Hotline, Helpwanted and Stop it Now. These programmes all contribute to EOKM’s mission. EOKM provides the necessary support and coordination. Since 2022, EOKM has also been acting as the Safer Internet Centre.

+27

GROWN TO 40 EMPLOYEES

+m2

moved to a larger building

CSEM HOTLINE

The CSEM Hotline is where the public, hosting platforms, and companies can report online images involving possible sexual exploitation of minors. In addition, foreign hotlines can forward reports of images hosted from the Netherlands.
CSEM Hotline staff assess the images according to legal criteria. When illegal images are found, the hosting provider and/or the website are asked to remove these within 24 hours. The reports are shared with Interpol, who use them to solve cases and locate victims. In this way, we join forces to create a safer internet, free from images of sexual abuse of minors.

DECLINE

in the number of reports

144,058

reports and 397,770 URLs processed

Fewer reports than in the previous year: Last year, our analysts reviewed and analysed 144,058 reports. Our SCART workflow tool traced even more URLs based on the original reports. This resulted in our analysts processing a further 253,712 URLs.
In total, our analysts processed 397,770 URLs in 2022.
Illegal v. legal: Out of all reports processed, 88,596 were deemed illegal and 55,450 not illegal. The images classified as ‘not illegal’ predominantly consisted of adult porn or images not found.
Where are illegal materials hosted?: In 2021, 89% of the illegal images were hosted in the Netherlands. In 2022, this percentage had shrunk to 63%. This fits the trend that increasingly fewer content is found in the Netherlands.

HELPWANTED

Helpwanted is an anonymous helpline which offers practical support and personal advice regarding online sexual abuse. Anyone who has (had) to deal with this, or who harbours concerns about another may contact Helpwanted. People can file anonymous reports, and chat, call or email a staff member. By means of the advice module on our website, one can also obtain tailored advice. Helpwanted can assist in taking illegal content offline. In addition, our site offers information on various issues relating to online abuse. Carers can benefit from our advice regarding online safety and order educational materials or a classroom chat. Helpwanted runs projects that contribute to the prevention of online sexual abuse and conducts research into various themes. Finally, Helpwanted provides information and workshops for schools and professionals. This is how we translate practical knowledge into research, and research into practice.

24%

more requests for advice than in 2021

+13%

website visits compared to 2021

Increase in the number of requests for advice: In 2022, the number of requests for advice rose by nearly a quarter, to 7,727. There were over 1,000 chat conversations more than the year before. The increase can be explained by the fact that opening times and age categories were expanded. Because the opening times only gradually increased halfway through the year, the rise was limited.
Who ask for advice?
What do people want advice about?: People are most affected by threats/blackmail, photos being distributed, social media abuse (such as a hacked account) and being approached online for sex. The differences between boys and girls are sometimes large. For example, boys are more often confronted with threats and blackmail. Girls, on the other hand, more frequently encounter unwanted approaches for sex.
Who ask for advice regarding others?: In some cases, it’s not the young persons themselves asking for advice, but someone close to them who gets in touch with us. In most cases, it’s their parents.

Stop it Now

Stop it Now’s mission is to prevent sexual child abuse. Via its telephone helpline, chat or contact form, Stop it Now offers anonymous and confidential support free of charge to anyone who is concerned about sexual behaviour and/or feelings towards minors. For example, people who look at images of sexual child abuse or who are at risk of or have committed sexual child abuse. For these people, the step to help can be big because of stigma and the fear of possible consequences. This threshold is lowered by offering anonymous support. This prevents (recurrence of) sexual child abuse.

Stop it Now offers a listening ear, advice, and support, and, together with the person asking for help, looks at which form of support is appropriate. If necessary, Stop it Now can refer people to specialised assistance at forensic clinic ‘De Waag’ and other forensic clinics throughout the Netherlands. Stop it Now has also developed an online self-help module called ‘It’s Possible to Stop’ (Stoppen is Mogelijk). People who are concerned about someone close to them can also get in touch. Stop it Now offers support for them in the form of, inter alia, counselling and connecting them with self-help groups of people in similar situations. Professionals can contact Stop it Now for advice and discussing cases. Stop it Now also shares its knowledge in workshops and presentations.

27%

got in touch more
than once

32%

more people getting in touch with Stop it Now than in 2021

More contact instances: In 2022, Stop it Now was contacted 943 times in total. This is an increase of 32% compared to 2021. People primarily got in touch by phone (617 times). The number of times people were in touch via email (85 times) declined compared to previous years, presumably because of the new chat option (241 reports).
Repeated contact: 27% of those requesting help were in touch with Stop it Now more than once. The fact that people contact us repeatedly is a good sign. It indicates that people trust us and benefit from our services.
Who get in touch?: Most people who contact us are concerned about their own feelings and/or behaviour towards minors (47%). The ratio between the target groups is comparable to that of 2021.
More prevention: In 2022, the number of people looking at images of sexual abuse of minors declined. At the same time, potential perpetrators of sexual child abuse and potential viewers were more frequently in touch. A positive development: it shows that we’re able to reach the target group at an earlier stage and that we can focus on prevention of sexual child abuse.
What are others concerned about?: Concerns about others are mostly about viewers of images of sexual abuse of minors, followed by (potential) perpetrators of sexual child abuse. The concerns currently seem to focus more on viewers of images of sexual abuse of minors than in 2021 (42% v. 32%) and less on individuals with sexual feelings for minors (8% v. 16%). Callers were most concerned about their (former) partner, followed by their son/daughter and brother/sister.