Marriott partners with IWF to fight online child exploitation, first-of-its-kind collaboration in hotel industry

Collaboration marks Marriott’s next step in journey to advance human rights

BETHESDA, MD, 2023-Feb-23 — /Travel PR News/ — Marriott International announced today (FEBRUARY 22, 2023) it has joined forces with UK-based nonprofit Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to combat online child exploitation by using technology solutions to restrict guest network access to websites with child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) in its hotels. The collaboration will be the first of its kind for the hotel industry and marks the next step in Marriott’s commitment to address a critical human rights issue for the industry. Marriott recently marked a significant milestone in its anti-trafficking efforts, training one million associates at Marriott hotels to recognize and respond to signs of human trafficking.

In January 2023, Marriott established a new Global Property Network Standard to have hotels block access to websites with CSAM from the hotels’ guest network. As part of this initiative with the IWF, Marriott is working with Cisco to implement its security technology to block access to CSAM-containing webpages on the IWF’s blocked URL list.

“Marriott is proud to be the first hospitality company to join the IWF and is utilizing Cisco’s security technology to restrict access to exploitative materials through hotel networks. As a leader in the hospitality industry and a company that believes in putting people first, Marriott has committed to fighting human trafficking and other pressing human rights issues,” said Anthony Capuano, Chief Executive Officer for Marriott International. “This initiative builds on our anti-trafficking efforts and survivor empowerment work, honors our core values and upholds Marriott’s commitment to human rights.”

According to the IWF, Marriott’s membership provides access to the IWF’s list of CSAM-containing webpages to better enable filtering and blocking. Each webpage is manually assessed by the IWF analysts to confirm the presence of criminal content. Once the CSAM is removed from the webpage, the IWF will also remove the webpage from the list, ensuring the list is up-to-date and webpages are not unnecessarily blocked.

“In 2022 the IWF identified and removed more than 255,000 webpages containing child sexual abuse imagery. This equates to millions of individual images and videos of children being exploited. It is through valuable partnerships with organizations like Marriott International that we can make the internet safer for both children and adults and we welcome them as a new Member. By using our URL list to protect their networks and people from risks online, Marriott will help to reduce the suffering of survivors who are essentially revictimized when images of their abuse are viewed and shared online,” said Susie Hargreaves OBE, Chief Executive of the IWF.

Cisco’s Umbrella security solution will provide Marriott with efficient management of guest internet access, cloud-delivered web filtering, integrated SafeSearch browsing, and block lists, and the configuration used by Marriott will prevent collection of guest data.

“Cisco has a deep commitment to leverage our unique strengths and success as a company to improve people’s lives, everywhere. We know we can harness the power of technology to help address the challenges our society faces, and we are honored to support Marriott on this important work,” said Tom Gillis, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Security Business Group, Cisco.

Marriott conducted a pilot in November 2022 at six properties in the U.S. and will begin to deploy the technology throughout U.S. and Canadian hotels this month. A global rollout to other regions is expected through 2024.

To learn more about Marriott’s commitment to advancing human rights visit Welcome All and Advance Human Rights I Marriott International Serve360.

About Marriott International

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of nearly 8,300 properties under 30 leading brands spanning 138 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company offers Marriott Bonvoy®, its highly-awarded travel program. For more information, please visit our website at www.marriott.com. In addition, connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on Twitter and Instagram.

About the Internet Watch Foundation

The Internet Watch Foundation helps victims of child sexual abuse worldwide by identifying and removing online images and videos of their abuse. We search for child sexual abuse images and videos and offer a place for the public to report them anonymously. We then have them removed. We’re a not-for-profit organisation and are supported by the global internet industry. www.iwf.org.uk.

Media Contact:

Christin Fernandez
Director Strategic Communications and Media Relations
Marriott International
Christin.Fernandez@Marriott.com
+1 (301) 380-7838

IWF Media Contact:
Cat McShane
catherine.mcshane@iwf.org.uk
+44 (0) 7572 783227

Source: Marriott International, Inc.

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