The Safety Tech Challenge Fund is a UK government-funded challenge programme that first ran from 2021-2022. The objective of the first round of the Fund was to support the development of innovative technologies to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) within end-to-end encrypted environments, whilst upholding user privacy.
Five projects were each awarded an initial grant of £85,000 by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), Home Office and GCHQ. The fund was delivered by PUBLIC and additional support was offered by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Addressing industry challenges
The government supports the responsible use of encryption, including end-to-end encryption. Through the Safety Tech Challenge Fund we are helping to demonstrate that it is possible to have strong encryption whilst maintaining child safety and respecting user privacy.
Technology currently plays a vital role in helping platforms detect online abuses (for example, by scanning for images known to be illegal).
These proof-of-concept tools demonstrate the art of the possible, and will signpost to areas of future innovation. We know there is unlikely to be a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, our goal is to drive development of a range of approaches, appropriate to companies of different sizes.
Hear from the Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy
The UK Government’s Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully MP, shares his thoughts on the impact of the first Safety Tech Challenge Fund and explains the government’s commitment to becoming a world leader in online safety.
Delivering the projects
The projects funded by the Safety Tech Challenge Fund set out to prove not only that there are better and more innovative ways to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in end-to-end encrypted environments, but that it’s possible to do so whilst upholding user privacy.
The participants of the fund – led by online safety tech firms from across the UK and internationally, and with support from government – developed their prototypes with a particular focus on how approaches aligned with safeguarding people’s right to privacy and data protection.
The projects harnessed technologies including age estimation, facial recognition and secure multi-party computation, and focused on developing proof-of-concept tools that illustrate how safety can be enhanced whilst upholding user privacy within an end-to-end encrypted application.
Impact of the Safety Tech Challenge Fund
Through financial investment and stakeholder access, the Safety Tech Challenge Fund gave the projects the platform and support they needed to develop their solutions, and instil confidence in future investors. Since the project ended, participants have continued to develop their proof-of-concept tools.
Following the success of the first Safety Tech Challenge Fund, DSIT have now launched their second fund. This fund will focus on exploring the creation of technologies that can identify and disrupt the sharing of links to child sexual abuse material. Working with the Home Office and GCHQ again, HMG are investing up to £700,000 to support the successful projects.
The Safety Tech Challenge Fund supports the embedding of a ‘safety by design’ culture and is another example of how DSIT are committed to supporting innovation and growth across the UK online safety tech sector to drive UK digital growth, further cement the UK as a world leader in online safety tech, and drive the technological developments needed to keep users safe online.
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