News story

Disrupting online abuse and exploitation: call for solutions

Organisations can apply for a share of up to £300,000 for contracts to disrupt and prevent the live online streaming of child sexual abuse.

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This competition is seeking technical and psychological solutions for identification, disruption and prevention.

The Home Office has up to £300,000 to invest in up to 5 innovative projects that are designed to disrupt live online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Projects should investigate new methods and technologies. This may include detecting and disrupting live streaming or identifying and disrupting related financial transactions. It may also include other interventions such as psychological or behavioural approaches.

The competition is being run under the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative).

Identification, disruption and prevention

This competition is particularly seeking technical and psychological solutions for identification, disruption and prevention. It could include:

  • identification of live streams or associated chat logs, both in real time or from an archived live-stream content
  • making use of any wider indicators of child sexual abuse and exploitation in order to identify and disrupt live-streamed content
  • supporting identification of potential victims or offenders by hosting providers
  • deterrence of potential offenders and preventing children becoming potential victims through behavioural insights or targeted communications

Competition information

  • the competition is open, and the deadline for applications is 14 November 2018
  • it is open to any organisation that can demonstrate a route to market for its idea
  • we expect total project costs to be up to £60,000 and for projects to last up to 3.5 months
  • successful projects will attract 100% funded development contracts
  • applications should be made through the Crown Commercial Service’s e-Sourcing Suite
Published 26 October 2018