Cybertip.ca’s History
Cybertip.ca has played an integral role in reducing online child sexual exploitation and abuse across Canada, and internationally with Project Arachnid. Major milestones include:
- Launched as a pilot initiative in September 2002, in response to the growing problem of child sexual exploitation online
- In May 2004, following a successful pilot phase, Cybertip.ca was adopted under the Government of Canada’s National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet
- In July 2004, the Canadian Coalition Against Internet Child Exploitation (CCAICE) was formed. Chaired by Cybertip.ca, CCAICE is a voluntary multi‑sector group of industry, government, non-governmental, and law enforcement stakeholders from across the country working to address the problem of online child sexual exploitation
- In January 2005, Cybertip.ca was officially announced as Canada’s national tipline alongside the Deputy Prime Minister and Attorneys General from across Canada
- In November 2006, Cleanfeed Canada was launched. This initiative involves Cybertip.ca providing a URL list to participating ISPs who voluntarily block access to prepubescent child sexual abuse content hosted outside Canada
- In April 2009, Cybertip.ca was named as the designated reporting entity under Manitoba’s mandatory reporting of child pornography within the Child and Family Services Act
- In November 2009, in partnership with Bell, Cybertip.ca its first research report entitled Child Sexual Abuse Images: An Analysis of Websites by Cybertip.ca
- In December 2011, Cybertip.ca was designated as the reporting entity under section 2 of the Bill C‑22, An Act Respecting the Mandatory Reporting of Internet Child Pornography by Persons who Provide an Internet Service.
- In September 2012, Cybertip.ca marked its 10th anniversary with a report outlining the tipline’s results and successes.
- In January 2016, Cybertip.ca was named the designated reporting entity for receiving and responding to requests from Manitobans negatively impacted by the non‑consensual distribution of an intimate image
- In 2016, Cybertip.ca released the study Child Sexual Abuse Images on the Internet: A Cybertip.ca Analysis, an overview of the information received through reports to the tipline from 2008 to 2015, with a particular focus on child sexual abuse images.
- In January 2017, Cybertip.ca launched Project Arachnid – an automated platform that helps detect child sexual abuse material and reduce its online availability by issuing notices to service providers for removal
- In September 2017, Cybertip.ca marked its 15th anniversary with a report outlining the tipline’s results and successes.
- In July 2019, Project Arachnid was bolstered by the addition of Shield by Project Arachnid, a proactive tool industry can use to quickly detect known child sexual abuse material on their service, which will, in turn, speed up its removal
- In December 2019, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) released our framework How We Are Failing Children: Changing the Paradigm, an urgent call to action for governments, industry, and hotlines around the world that is grounded in the best interests of the child, and their right to dignity, privacy, and protection from harm
- In December 2020, C3P released a report that examined the availability of child sexual abuse material‑specific reporting mechanisms on 15 major platforms, along with presenting five recommendations for companies that allow user‑generated content on their service.
- In June 2021, C3P released the Project Arachnid: Online availability of child sexual abuse material report, which provided unprecedented insight into the availability of CSAM and the role vast networks of lesser‑known internet companies play in facilitating the spread.
- In January 2022, Project Arachnid marked five years of operation with the release of Unwanted Followers, a video which tells the real stories and experiences of survivors whose CSAM was recorded and distributed online.
- In March 2022, C3P’s Executive Director Lianna McDonald was appointed to be a member of an expert advisory group tasked with providing the Minister of Canadian Heritage advice on how to design a legislative and regulatory framework to address harmful content online.
- In April 2022, C3P released a child safety analysis of the two largest mobile app stores—Apple’s App Store and Google Play—which looked at how, and if, Apple and Google are enforcing app age ratings on their mobile app. The resulting research led to many findings that raised significant concerns for the protection of children/youth online, and for families who use age ratings to gauge safety.
