Project Intercept Sends 70 Million CSAM Warnings to Online Users in Two Years

More than 70 million warning messages have gone to people trying to access child sexual abuse material online over the past two years, according to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

The alerts form part of Project Intercept, a collaboration between the child protection charity and tech companies that includes Google, TikTok and Meta.

The foundation reported that nearly 700,000 people then visited its Stop It Now resources, which provide confidential advice and self-help tools. Some experts described the number as disappointingly low.

"Given that 70 million warning messages have been sent, the fact that only 700,000 people click through to get support seems low. This is disappointing, given that the scale of the problem of child sexual abuse imagery online is growing fast," said Professor Sonia Livingstone, director of the Digital Futures for Children centre at London School of Economics.

"On the other hand, since four in five of those people who seek support do engage with the resources provided, that suggests the system is working for those who are really motivated to get help."

The foundation did not say how many individual users triggered the searches.

It noted high engagement with the support materials, however. An average of 28,000 users per month got redirected in 2024 and 2025, and more than four in five kept interacting with the content. The organization released no data on longer-term behavior changes.

These challenges include end-to-end encrypted services, where only the sender and recipient can view content, along with AI chatbot platforms.

Deborah Denis, chief executive of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said: "By placing warnings at the moment harmful behavior is happening, we can disrupt it and divert people towards help to change." She added that the approach could expand further.

The NSPCC, another children's charity, said such interventions could help disrupt harmful behavior but must pair with broader steps to stop illegal material from being created and shared initially. The child protection charity urged tech companies to do more against the content's spread.

Emma Hardy, communications director at the Internet Watch Foundation, called for innovative solutions, including on end-to-end encrypted parts of the internet.

"As it is, it is simply too easy to share and distribute child sexual abuse imagery online, and for children to become trapped in cycles of exploitation," she said.

"Safety by design needs to be a guiding principle and new products and platforms must be built to make sure there is nowhere for this sort of behavior to hide."