Most of us never think about what happens after we click “publish.”
We expect websites to load, businesses to stay online, and the internet to run smoothly. What we don’t see are the people working behind the scenes to ensure the web’s darkest corners never see the light of day.
Every day, hosting providers, registrars, nonprofits, law enforcements agences, and abuse teams quietly work together to identify and remove images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet. It’s difficult work, often takes an emotional toll, and because of its sensitive nature, is rarely talked about publicly.
For Brandom Eastham, DreamHost’s Director of Trust and Safety, it’s part of the job.
“My only goal in my career is to help make the internet a better place,” Eastham says. “I’d like to think that my counterparts share that goal.”
That mindset is what led DreamHost to partner with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK-based nonprofit that works with technology companies around the world to identity, assess, and help disrupt the spread of child abuse material online.
The collaboration was made possible through Public Interest Registry (PIR), the nonprofit behind .ORG. Through its sponsorship with the IWF, PIR helps expand access to IWF services across the domain name industry at no additional cost to participating organizations.
Through the sponsorship program, DreamHost gains access to IWF services used across the technology and internet industries, including by hosting providers, registrars, internet service providers, and technology platforms.
Eastham made the decision to take part after speaking with industry colleagues, reviewing the IWF’s work and learning more about the sponsorship. “It’s a great fit for DreamHost,” Eastham says, “and it can definitely be helpful in making the internet a better place.”
Why Being Involved Mattered
DreamHost has long maintained a zero-tolerance policy for confirmed child sexual abuse material (CSAM). When illegal content is identified, the company’s Abuse team investigates, removes, and reports it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) as required by law, and cooperates with law enforcement when needed.
So then why the IWF?
Because protecting the internet isn’t something any one organization handles alone. Partnering with the IWF isn’t about reinventing the process wheel, it’s about strengthening it.
As Eastham explains, the IWF is a UK-based organization that works globally and is legally able to process child abuse material, something many organizations can’t do. That allows it to share verified intelligence with companies like DreamHost so credible reports reach the right people faster.
“We’ve started to expand our partnerships with outside entities because, of course, we want to make sure that that kind of stuff never ends up on our network,” Eastham says. “And in the highly rare event that something does happen, we want to know about it immediately to take swift action.”
One of the biggest advantages of working with the IWF is that it becomes a “trusted reporter” for DreamHost’s Compliance and Abuse teams.
“As far as this particular instance goes, it solidifies IWF as what we call a trusted reporter,” Eastham says. “Their specific reports are filtered and escalated.”
For legitimate customers, nothing changes. “Our legitimate customers will never be impacted by this.” Eastham adds. “Those who may try to slip something under the radar, we will find them and take action. That’s always been the case.”
The partnership simply gives the Compliance and Abuse teams a trusted source of information so reports can be evaluated and acted on as quickly as possible.
Why This Work Stays Mostly Invisible
Hosting companies don’t often talk publicly about this side of the job, partly because they don’t want to hand bad actors a roadmap for avoiding detection, but also because it’s uncomfortable to discuss.
“It’s a horrible topic,” Eastham says. “It is the most despicable kind of content that is on the internet, and nobody wants to talk about the darker side.” Still, staying quiet doesn’t make the problem any smaller.
The scale alone makes the case for why cooperation across the industry matters. In 2025 alone, IWF analysts confirmed 311,610 reports containing, linking to, or advertising child sexual abuse material. That’s the equivalent of one report depicting a child’s sexual abuse every 101 seconds.
If anything, Eastham hopes more companies across the web industry choose to work together. “The more information that you can get on valid issues,” Eastham says, “the easier it’s going to be to address it and the easier it’s going to be to make the internet a better place.”
Internet Watch Foundation CEO Kerry Smith said: “Internet hosting providers play a vital role in the fight against child sexual abuse. Through the services and infrastructure they provide, they are uniquely placed to help prevent the spread of abuse content online. We are delighted that DreamHost has joined the sponsorship programme to strengthen its safeguards and take further action to better protect children online. We invite others to come on board as well.”
For Eastham, success is measured by something hard to quantify. “The internet’s a great place and the internet’s an ugly place,” he says. “All we can do is try to keep the ugly part down and increase the positive aspects of the web.”
Most DreamHost customers will never know this work is happening, and they shouldn’t have to.
If we’re doing our jobs well, they’ll simply keep building websites, launching businesses, growing their online presence, and sharing ideas on a web that’s a little safer than it was the day before.