NCMEC’s CyberTipline is the nation’s (USA’s) centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children. The public and electronic service providers can make reports of suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, child sexual molestation, child sexual abuse material, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the internet. Through funding from Facebook, NCMEC offers the Case Management Tool (CMT) for domestic and international law enforcement who receive and investigate CyberTipline reports. The CMT allows users to triage, query, organize and refer CyberTipline reports within this web-based interface. NCMEC's Law Enforcement Agency Web Services (LEAWS) allows law enforcement around the world access to CyberTipline report data. This back-end infrastructure allows report data to be ingested by case management tools to allow quicker access, triage and response. NCMEC's ISP Web Services (ISPWS) allows companies around the world report directly to the CyberTipline. This back-end infrastructure allows for easier and automated reporting by companies around the world taking a stand against child sexual exploitation. While companies based in the US are required by law to report to the CyberTipline, any global company may and is welcome to report to the CyberTipline to better protect children and users on their platforms and services. As part of the CyberTipline response process, NCMEC notifies companies and providers when they are hosting CSAM and no suspect or offender is identified. Our analysts use a specialized interface to send notices daily, calling for these providers to remove the content and it includes a follow-up check to ensure the content has in fact been taken down. In 2021, NCMEC sent over 100,000 notices to companies to remove content from their hosting sites.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)