The UK minister has claimed that the agreements with internet firms would bring a major change in dealing with online child abuse images.
Firms including Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, BT, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Vodafone, O2, EE and Three were called to a meeting, chaired by Culture Secretary Maria Miller, in the midst of UK government’s call to work more intently on eliminating illegal material.
The Internet firms have now agreed to give the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) more powers and resources to discover abusive images online.
IWF has been asked to work closely with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre and search for and block child sexual abuse images on the Internet.
In addition, internet service providers (ISP) including Virgin Media, BSkyB, BT and TalkTalk have offered £1m in funds in support for the new proactive approach and to assist in dealing with the online creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Maria Miller, said for the first time the IWF has been asked to work alongside CEOP to search for illegal and abusive images and block them.
"This will mean more images of child sexual abuse will be tracked down and acted against," Miller said.
Content from our partners
"This agreement will mean these organisations will no longer be limited to reacting to reports received.
"They will now have the remit and the resources to take the fight to the criminals perpetrating these vile acts."
Recently, Google revealed that it is working on a new global database of child abuse images that would be shared with its rival firms to get rid of online child pornography.
Google’s move comes after UK Prime Minister David Cameron urged to work harder to put off child pornography.
