Safe Online awards $10 million to 23 new grantees to join the fight against digital harms – Safe Online

Safe Online awards $ 10 million to 23 new grantees to join the fight against digital harms

The digital world is becoming increasingly unsafe for children and young people. Data from the past year, has prompted child protection organisations to sound an alarm for 2023 as a ‘record year’ for child sexual abuse reports with analysts finding more child sexual imagery than any year previously – more than 275,000 reports -up 8% from the previous year.

New trends emerge, such as financial sexual extortion, while threats like online grooming and child ‘self-generated’ sexual material continue to grow. Additionally, new emerging technologies like generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Extended Reality (ER) pose new risks for the safety of children online.

To combat the growing threats in the digital space, Safe Online launched a global call for proposals in 2023. After a rigorous and thorough selection process, 23 grantees have been selected to receive USD 10 million. The new investment grows Safe Online’s investment portfolio to USD 100 million across 106 projects with impact in 100 countries and accelerates Safe Online’s globally important role as a catalyst for new solutions to combat digital harms.

The investment award projects under a ‘whole system’ approach by supporting work across multiple sectors to achieve maximum impact.

“With a $10M boost, Safe Online is supercharging efforts to protect kids from digital harms. Our new investments are empowering changemakers worldwide to create a safer, brighter online future for every child. Together, we're not just responding to online harms – we're reengineering the internet for the next generation."

- Marija Manojlovic, Executive Director, Safe Online

Grantees have been awarded under three different pillars:

Networks and Systems: Projects will strengthen systems, key infrastructure and services and create incentives for action through changing norms, policies and advanced regulation.

Research and data: Projects will create and promote a global evidence base to support the ecosystem, increase alignments of efforts, and maximise their impact.

Technology Tools: Projects will reduce barriers to access to cutting-edge technologies in the online safety space and promote tools that are shareable, adaptable and create efficiencies in online CSEA prevention and response efforts at all levels.

Meet the new grantees

See more of our recent updates

Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund announces additional funding of US $500k to select existing grantees for research extension, product development & innovation

October 20, 2023

The Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund is granting 4 awards to further accelerate the work of organisations from the first cohort of grantees. The additional funds will be for a duration of 12 months and will support projects to extend research to applications such as piloting solutions, technical collaboration and innovation efforts.

UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti (Disrupting Harm)

January 9, 2024

Our grantees UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti (Disrupting Harm) Evidence From 14 Countries on the Context, Threats, and Children’s Perspectives of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. Countries involved:Italy Disrupting Harm is a large-scale data collection and research project to better understand online child sexual exploitation and abuse across

12 new countries join flagship global initiative to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse

December 8, 2023

In today’s increasingly digital world, the internet has become an integral part of children and young people’s lives, providing enormous opportunities for communication, education and entertainment. At the same time, it can also present a serious threat to their safety and well-being. Unfortunately, there is very little solid evidence available on the scale of these risks, which groups of children are more likely to be harmed, and where or how this happens.

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