Earlier this week, WeProtect Global Alliance convened a multi stakeholder consultation on the development of the Tech Coalition’s voluntary industry transparency reporting framework initiative. We heard from Alliance members and other stakeholders, their important perspectives on key audiences for transparency reporting, potential questions that should be addressed through the framework, and what other information should be gathered to help address this challenging issue.
Further consultations convened by WeProtect Global Alliance will be held with civil society and private sector members on April 19 and 21 respectively, and the Tech Coalition will be sending out a survey to stakeholders for additional input that will support the development of the framework. Following these consultations, the Tech Coalition intends to finalize and publicly launch the framework at the WeProtect Global Alliance Summit in June.
Tech Coalition Announces Voluntary Industry Framework for Transparency Reporting
February 14, 2022 - In June 2020, the Tech Coalition launched Project Protect, a plan of coordinated action to drive the technology industry’s efforts to fight child sexual abuse and exploitation online. As we continue to move the industry transparency commitments of Project Protect forward, today we are pleased to announce a new initiative to develop a voluntary industry framework for transparency reporting. The development of this framework for industry will represent a significant step forward in the pursuit of greater industry transparency and accountability, and will improve available data and give greater insight into action to address child sexual exploitation and abuse online.
The framework is intended to take a flexible and differentiated approach to account for the variety of digital services impacted by the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, as well as differences in company size and maturity. To ensure input from non-industry stakeholders into the development of the framework, WeProtect Global Alliance will work with the Tech Coalition to seek input from third-party stakeholders in early 2022. Following these consultations, the Tech Coalition intends to finalize and publicly launch the framework at the WeProtect Global Alliance Summit in June 2022.
The Tech Coalition is fully committed to facilitating the global tech industry’s fight against the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. We believe that this framework represents a major step forward in delivering on Project Protect’s promise of greater transparency and accountability, which is fundamental to the overall effort to protect children online. We cannot make progress on this issue without a clear understanding of the scope and severity of the problem, the manner in which it manifests on different platforms, and the challenges that require further combined effort. We are eager to launch this initiative, which serves as a critical moment for the Tech Coalition’s industry members and the entire online child protection community to move forward together.