ExoClick is supporting Safer Internet Day 2023

ExoClick is supporting “Safer Internet Day” on Tuesday 7th February 2023 to help raise awareness of the current issues harming internet users today, particularly young people. A big part of our ethics and core values is to ensuring the internet is a safe and fun space for all users. ExoClick has invested heavily in a dedicated and passionate Compliance Team, as well as new tools, in-house technological solutions and donating to and working with non profit organisations such as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) .  

What is Safer Internet Day 2023?

Safer Internet Day is celebrated globally every year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people, and to inspire an international conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively.  It will be celebrated with the theme ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online’. Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, Safer Internet Day is celebrated in over a hundred countries coordinated by the joint Insafe/INHOPE network, with the support of the European Commission, and national Safer Internet Centres across Europe.

How ExoClick keeps the Internet safe

ExoClick’s Compliance Team works 24/7 to review all advertising marketing materials as well as publisher websites to ensure all meet our strict rules and guidelines. Additionally, ExoClick uses automated tools including ad security and ad quality solution AdSecure, used to scan ad creatives and all parts of the ad supply chain in order to detect any possibilities of malvertising or suspicious activity. We check ad campaigns before they go on live on our network as well as regular checks while campaigns are running to ensure not unscrupulous changes are made. Publishing sites are also checked before going on our network and also regularly checked after the sites are accepted.  ExoClick’s Compliance Team detected and instantly blocked 562 malvertising ads during 2022. This represented a 14.6% decline on the previous year, showing that our processes are getting more effective in preventing all forms of malvertising. You can find out more about the great work that our Compliance Team carries out here

ExoClick’s Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) membership

We are a member of the IWF who are an independent not-for-profit organisation supported by the global internet industry and the European Commission. The IWF works internationally to make the internet a safer place, by identifying and removing online child sexual abuse images and videos.

ExoClick’s membership involves help with funding the IWF as well as collaborating by using their URL list and their keywords list, which provides cryptic terms associated with child sexual abuse material. Additionally, ExoClick’s Compliance team will share any detections of URLs that feature child sexual abuse content for the IWF to review and alert relevant authorities.

Since joining in November 2021, ExoClick has reported 17 cases of websites that featured child exploitation content and in each instance either the content, or the entire website was taken offline through IWF’s work. We are determined to play our part in stamping out such content circulating globally and protecting internet users and children from online harms and exploitation, by ensuring measures are taken to clean up the internet through working with such organisations.

We hope that you join us in marking Safer Internet Day, by supporting the fight against online harm to our young people, which is of ever increasing concern and importance.

Bryan McDonald