INHOPE and WeTransfer launch new collaboration

The initiative connects WeTransfer’s Trust & Safety processes with INHOPE’s secure ICCAM platform and the expertise of participating hotline members. Through a purpose-built technical integration, relevant reports can be securely routed to trained hotline professionals for assessment under the applicable national legal framework.

This collaboration represents an important step towards a sustainable model in which industry and hotlines can work together, each contributing their distinct expertise and responsibilities, to help disrupt the availability of CSAM online.

“Effective action against child sexual abuse material requires trusted cooperation across sectors. This new capability brings together industry reporting pathways, secure technology and the expertise of hotline professionals, while keeping child protection at the centre of the process.” – Robbert Hoving, President of INHOPE Board

For INHOPE and its members, the initiative also reflects a wider commitment to sustaining the expertise and infrastructure needed to respond to online child sexual abuse material over the long term.

Hotlines play a vital role in receiving reports, assessing content and supporting action against illegal material online. As the digital environment evolves, collaboration between civil society, industry, law enforcement and other relevant actors becomes increasingly important.

By developing a responsible framework for industry cooperation, INHOPE aims to support meaningful engagement with online services while safeguarding the independence, legal mandates and welfare of participating hotline members.

Online services have an essential role to play in preventing the misuse of their platforms. Yet responding to suspected CSAM requires specialist expertise in visual review, robust safeguards and clear procedures for handling highly sensitive material.

Through this new model, WeTransfer can securely submit relevant reports via a system-to-system connection to ICCAM, INHOPE’s international reporting and case-management platform. Participating hotline members can then assess reports and determine whether content meets the relevant legal threshold, in line with their national remit and established procedures.

Where a report is confirmed as illegal by the INHOPE network, the information enables WeTransfer to take appropriate action under its policies, such as removing or blocking access to the material. Law-enforcement engagement remains subject to the applicable legal processes and responsibilities.

The model is designed around several core principles:

• Specialist assessment: Reports are visually reviewed by trained hotline professionals with expertise in assessing suspected CSAM.
• Secure handling: Relevant materials and case information are handled through ICCAM, using protected workflows and security mechanisms in place.
• Clear roles: INHOPE operates the technical and coordination infrastructure, while hotline members retain responsibility for their own assessments and decisions.
• Voluntary participation: Hotline involvement is based on capacity, readiness and clear member commitments, with staff welfare and operational safeguards built into the approach.
• Timely processing: The collaboration is designed to support agreed service-level expectations, including escalation arrangements where needed.

The launch follows a period of development, technical work and engagement. The WeTransfer integration was developed with input from several hotline organisations, helping to test the practical, legal and operational considerations involved in processing industry-originated reports.

The collaboration begins as a carefully managed implementation, allowing INHOPE and participating members to monitor volumes, workflows, capacity requirements and service-level performance. This phased approach is intended to ensure that the model remains workable, ethically grounded and responsive to the needs of both hotlines and industry partners.

The programme does not replace the responsibility of online services to protect users and address illegal content on their platforms. Instead, it creates an additional pathway for services seeking to work with specialist child-protection organisations when they identify suspected CSAM that requires independent assessment.

“We are proud to be the first industry partner to launch this new way of working with INHOPE. We believe it demonstrates what is possible when technology companies, civil-society organisations and child-protection specialists combine their respective strengths with a shared commitment to child safety” – Jeff Sen, Head of Trust and Safety, WeTransfer

The WeTransfer collaboration is the first implementation of this model. INHOPE will use the initial phase to continue fundraising, refining governance, training, documentation, risk-management measures and capacity arrangements with its members.

The shared ambition is clear: to create a secure, sustainable and scalable way for responsible industry partners to work with hotline experts in helping to reduce the availability of child sexual abuse material online.

INHOPE and WeTransfer believe that effective child protection online depends on practical cooperation, trusted expertise and a collective commitment to act responsibly.