Scaling solutions for child safety online: Block partners with Tech Coalition

Scaling solutions for child safety online: Block partners with Tech Coalition

Block participated in the Tech Coalition event From Collective Action to Impact: How the Tech Industry is Advancing Child Safety in Washington, D.C., where leaders across sectors discussed how to accelerate progress against online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Sally Frank, Anti-Human Exploitation Program Lead at Block, joined the panel alongside representatives from the Tech Coalition and Wizz. The panel was moderated by the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

One theme was that prevention is as important as detection. Block highlighted how financial institutions can use tools like Know Your Customer (KYC) processes and transaction monitoring to identify potential risk, alongside product features like first-time and risky payment notifications for sponsors and sponsored accounts that prompt users to pause and reconsider transactions in the moment.

The discussion also focused on the limits of working in silos. Financial institutions often lack visibility into the content or communications behind a transaction, which makes collaboration essential. Block pointed to public and private partnerships as an important step in helping companies share signals and better understand patterns of harm across platforms and highlighted Tech Coalition’s Lantern program as a leading solution to bridging this gap. At the same time, panelists noted that scaling these solutions is not just a technical challenge. Differences between financial regulation and online safety frameworks can make it harder to apply consistent approaches across regions, especially when definitions of risk and intervention do not always align.

Looking ahead, Sally emphasized the need for stronger pathways for information sharing between companies. While financial institutions can share information with law enforcement and other financial institutions in specific scenarios, there are fewer mechanisms to share relevant signals with other private sector partners, limiting the effectiveness of collaborative efforts.

Addressing this challenge will require continued collaboration across industry, government, and civil society. Progress depends on improving how companies work together and aligning the systems that support those efforts.

You can read the Tech Coalition’s 2025 transparency report to explore how cross-industry collaboration is evolving.

Learn more about how Block is working to create safe, secure financial experiences for the next generation.