Commenting on the announcement made today (18th November) by leading search engine companies, Google and Microsoft that they will be installing measures to make it harder to find child abuse images online, Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, said:
"The fact that two of the largest players in the market are willing to come together to block and remove illegal imagery on the internet, has to be welcome.
"The two search engines, Google and Bing, account for 95% of the global internet search traffic, so this move will definitely make it more difficult for people to access child abuse material online and the move will be global.
"I am sure the family of April Jones, who have been campaigning hard on this issue, will be pleased with this first step today but it is only the first step.
"To get to the prolific abusers who are lurking in the darkest recesses of the internet, there will have to be close collaboration right across the industry with national crime prevention agencies across the world.
"Today Google and Microsoft have stepped up to the plate to meet the challenge and I hope other companies will come forward and do their bit to stamp out this material which is corrupting society and putting children’s lives at risk."