In 2021, a total of 43,496 reports of suspected illegal content on the Internet were reported to “Stopline”, the Austrian reporting center that targets sexual abuse depictions of minors and Nazi content.
Increasing internet consumption during the corona pandemic led to a rapid increase in reports to Stopline in 2021, whose aim is to remove depictions of sexual abuse of minors and Nazi re-activity on the internet.
This far exceeded the previous high in 2020 (26,992). The willingness of Internet users to report has increased significantly in the last year, as the current Stopline annual report shows: According to this, in 2021 the reporting office received a total of 43,496 reports of sexual abuse depictions of minors and National Socialist re-activity on the Internet, of which the Stopline employees received fifth (8,156) classified as illegal. What is striking is that Internet users' sensitivity to depictions of sexual abuse of minors remains high. As in previous years, reports in this category account for 99.7% of the content classified as illegal.

ISPA board member Peter Oskar Miller: “Deleting instead of blocking has proven itself in the fight against illegal content”
To ensure that illegal content can no longer be found on the Internet, everyone involved must intervene quickly. In Austria, the shared responsibility between reporting offices, providers and authorities has proven successful in the fight against illegal content on the Internet: In 2021, only one reported case of sexual abuse of minors was hosted in Austria. Voluntary self-regulation enables successful cooperation between Stopline and domestic internet providers, as Austria has been one of the most unattractive hosting locations in the world for years.
“Domestic Internet providers assume their social responsibility by removing the material that Stopline has classified as illegal within a very short time, usually within a few hours.“Deleting instead of blocking has proven to be a successful model in the fight against illegal content, emphasizes ISPA board member Peter Oskar Miller.
International cooperation is more important than ever
Voluntary self-regulation also plays a central role internationally in the fight against illegal content on the Internet: This is proven by the Stopline's long-standing cooperation with the partner hotlines in the international INHOPE network, which already consists of 50 reporting points worldwide.
“International cooperation in removing illegal content online is becoming increasingly important as the majority of illegal content is hosted abroad.As part of INHOPE, we promote close exchange and cooperation between all reporting offices worldwide in order to quickly remove illegal material from the Internet, says Barbara Schloßbauer, Stopline project manager.
In 2021, Stopline was able to forward every second report to a competent partner hotline. In order to further promote exchange, Stopline – as a founding member of INHOPE – supports the expansion of additional partner hotlines worldwide.
Increasing the awareness of Stopline
An additional focus will be to further increase the awareness of the Austrian reporting office, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2023. Only when internet users report supposedly illegal content can Stopline take action and make an important contribution to a safe internet for everyone.
The Stopline annual report 2021 is for download www.stopline.at .
Also read: 90,000 online accounts with child pornographic content identified . International strike against online child abuse. A global operation to combat online child abuse identified 90,000 online accounts with relevant content. ( Continue reading )
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

