Irish hotline says content is getting stronger

MORE than 524 sources of child sexual imagery were removed from the internet by an organisation based in Ireland last year, according to a new industry report.

Hotline.ie, financed by internet service providers and the EU, said that in most cases each of the sources consisted of hundreds of thousands of images and videos.

The group processed and identified 44% more content than the previous year, according to RTÉ News.

The group claimed that the severity of the images and videos was much higher than anticipated.

‘Hotline.ie’s findings and statistics, published in the annual report, make for uncomfortable reading,’ said manager Ana Niculescu. ‘However raising awareness and informing the public on how to report this horrific content is of utmost importance.’

The organisation said that half of the confirmed imagery showed sexual activity between adults and children, including rape and sexual torture.

More than three-quarters of the children in the abuse material had the appearance of being aged up to 12 years old, with 6% thought to be under three years.

The content was hosted by websites in 30 countries, and most was from the US and the Netherlands.

Last year no material was traced to a host in Ireland.