NCMEC & The Tech Coalition: Turning Commitment into Action for Child Safety

Protecting children online is a shared responsibility. No single organization, company or law enforcement agency can tackle online child sexual exploitation alone. By working together, we can better protect children and help create a safer digital world for families.

That's why NCMEC partners with organizations like the Tech Coalition to help stop online exploitation at its source and ensure every child can have a safe childhood, both online and off.

The Tech Coalition is a global alliance of technology companies united in their commitment to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Bringing together more than 60 companies from around the world, the Coalition provides a community for members to share knowledge, pool resources, and take collective action to strengthen protections and build the capacity needed to make online environments safer for children everywhere.

"Protecting children online requires more than one organization or one company working alone," said John Shehan, senior vice president of NCMEC's Exploited Children Division. "Our partnership with the Tech Coalition helps bring together the expertise of child protection professionals and the innovation of the technology industry to identify emerging threats, strengthen safety practices and build protections into products before children are harmed. That's how we create lasting progress."

One example of this work in action is Pathways, a Tech Coalition program that helps companies strengthen their approach to child safety. Designed to make child safety expertise more accessible, the program equips companies with the resources and guidance they need to build safer products and services, including best practices for identifying and reporting child sexual exploitation and abuse content to authorities like NCMEC.

Pathways is free to participate in and was created with startups and small-to-mid-sized platforms in mind, though companies of all sizes are welcome. The program is open to employees of technology companies that host or provide access to user-generated content or communications. Participants gain access to expert guidance, curated resources and opportunities to learn from others working to address online child sexual exploitation, including guidance on building child safety programs, CyberTipline reporting considerations and emerging issues like generative AI safety.

To date, more than 80 companies around the world have participated in Pathways. By helping companies better detect, assess and report child sexual exploitation, Pathways strengthens reporting to NCMEC and supports faster action to protect children.

“Many companies want to strengthen their child safety efforts but may not always know where to start,” said Katia Potapov, Vice President of Membership Development at the Tech Coalition. “Pathways helps turn that commitment into action by giving companies the tools and support they need to build stronger child safety practices and better protect children online.”

Protecting children online requires commitment from every corner of the technology industry, and programs like Pathways can help companies take a meaningful first step towards strengthening their child safety efforts. Organizations interested in learning more can connect with the Tech Coalition team to explore whether Pathways, membership or other resources may be the right fit for their needs.

Together, we can build a safer digital world where children can play, learn and explore. To learn more about Pathways and other Tech Coalition initiatives, visit the Tech Coalition website here: Pathways: online child safety capacity building program.