NEWS 2021/01/26

Why companies decide to address child sexual abuse material in a corporate environment

The single most important reason for protecting the IT environment and IT equipment from child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is a desire to operate ethically. This is what sixteen decision makers from sixteen different companies told us, when we interviewed them for the Business Insight part of the NetClean Report.

“We want to contribute to society. We do this for the sake of children and child victims. It is morally
right, and care and concern should stretch beyond the boundaries of the company.” – Comment from participant

However, just as there are many stakeholder involved in this issue, there are also many drivers behind the decision to install software to identify CSAM on IT equipment. Other drivers for addressing CSAM in corporate environments ranged from sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) frameworks, policy compliance and risk assessments from a compliance perspective, to IT security risks, brand protection and Human Resources (HR) drivers; ensuring that employees share the company’s core values, and that they don’t engage in criminal behaviour.

“ My role is to make sure that our employees use our equipment the way that it is meant to, and to act on all misconduct.” – Comment on policy compliance

“ Someone who exhibits this type of behaviour has probably progressed quite far into building that behaviour, and could have other problematic behaviours as well. This means a risk that the individuals engage in other inappropriate or illegal activities.” – Comment on compliance and risk

“ For the IT department this can be seen as any type of virus programme that a company should have installed. It should be a hygiene factor to have installed, just as programmes that are installed to prevent virus attacks or computers being hacked.” – Comment on IT security

“ Communicating it internally is usually received very positively, it highlights the ethical values in the
company and our employees are proud that we do this. Brand building is not the reason why we do this, but it is an added value.” – Comment on brand protection

Read more
Business Insight – Drivers behind addressing child sexual abuse in a corporate environment
Ethical drivers
Sustainability and CSR
Compliance – policy
Compliance – risk
IT security
Brand protection
Human Resources
Legal Considerations