In support of the 16 Days of Activism that calls for a stop to violence against women and children, MTN has launched an ongoing service that will prevent access on its network to Websites that contain images of the sexual abuse of children. This will help protect customers’ from inadvertent exposure to such content and minimise the perpetuation of the abuse of the child victims.

This is a service that supports the aims of the Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Content launched by the GSMA (GSM Association), of which MTN is a member. MTN is the first operator in Africa to implement this GSMA initiative.

Child Pornography Initiative

What is it ?

This is an initiative that:

• prevents access to Websites that contain illegal images of the sexual abuse of children using a sim card to browse the internet with a cellphone or a datacard
  
• informs customers on how to report content that may potentially contain child sexual abuse images that they have inadvertently stumbled across

How does it Work ?

Twice daily MTN implements a list of live websites identified as containing images of child sexual abuse provided by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is the UK’s internet ‘Hotline’ and works in partnership with the online industry, law enforcement, government, the education sector, charities, international partners and the public to minimise the availability of online child sexual abuse content hosted anywhere in the world. It is an independent self-regulatory body, funded by the EU and the wider online industry. For further information, see www.iwf.org.uk.