Q: Has SafeToNet developed technology on behalf of any government?
A: No. SafeToNet develops its technology independently. Our HarmBlock technology is designed to address real-world child safety challenges while protecting users' privacy. Although we engage with governments and policymakers to explain the capabilities and limitations of existing technologies, those discussions are separate from the development of our technology. Governments determine public policy. SafeToNet independently develops technology to help keep children safe online.
Q: Does SafeToNet receive any government funding?
A: Only as part of Government backed grants in both the UK and Canada. SafeToNet is privately funded by investors who share our mission of protecting children online.
Q: Does SafeToNet collaborate with organisations outside government?
A. Yes. Protecting children online requires collaboration across many sectors. SafeToNet works with charities, researchers, educators, industry partners and others, as well as engaging with individual families.
Q: Can HarmBlock be independently evaluated?
A: Yes. Public confidence in on-device safeguarding depends upon transparency and trust.
SafeToNet believes all providers of on-device safeguarding technologies, not just SafeToNet, should be independently assessed against recognised technical, privacy and performance standards.
Independent assurance should consider:
- protection of user privacy and confirmation that personal images are not collected, transmitted or retained;
- technical accuracy;
- operation across all applications, the camera, browsers and storage;
- non-circumventable;
- ethical sourcing and governance of AI training data;
- fairness and avoidance of material bias;
- device performance, including battery and processing efficiency;
- compatibility with modern consumer devices including laptops, tablets and smartphones; and
- transparency regarding governance, accountability and software updates.
These principles should apply consistently across the industry.
Q: Does SafeToNet have a special or exclusive relationship with anyone in government?
A: No. SafeToNet engages with governments in the same way that many specialist technology companies, charities, academics and industry experts contribute to policy discussions. We do not
have an exclusive relationship with any government officials, nor do governments endorse SafeToNet simply because they engage with us.
Q: Does SafeToNet collect children's images or monitor private communications?
A: No. HarmBlock is designed to operate entirely on the device. It does not upload children's images for analysis or monitor private communications. The technology is designed to prevent children from seeing, sharing or filming explicit imagery. This can be independently verified.
Q: If SafeToNet doesn't determine policy, why does it appear in government press releases and announcements?
A: Being named in a government announcement doesn't mean a company had a role in shaping the policy behind it. Governments frequently reference specific organisations or products when announcing an initiative, particularly where that organisation's technology is the practical example of what the child safety policy is trying to achieve. SafeToNet's inclusion in these announcements reflects that its technology is being used as an illustration of an approach, not that SafeToNet had any part in setting the policy itself. The distinction set out earlier on this page still holds: governments decide policy, and industry provides technology and evidence when asked. Being named alongside a policy announcement is a function of the second role, not the first.
Q: Is SafeToNet linked to any religious or political movement, and if so, does that shape how the technology decides what counts as harmful?
A: No. SafeToNet is not linked to any religious or political movement, and no religious or political position influences how HarmBlock decides what counts as harmful. The SafeToNet team is made up of people of all faiths and none, working together toward a single shared aim. Keeping children safe online is a moral mission, not a religious one, and it's one that people arrive at from a wide range of personal beliefs, experiences and backgrounds. What HarmBlock is built to detect and prevent is defined by child safety standards and by working with recognised child protection expertise.
Q: What happens to the images or data on my child's device? Does anyone at SafeToNet ever see them?
A: No. HarmBlock is designed to operate entirely on the device. It analyses images and content locally, in real time, without uploading them anywhere, and without SafeToNet or anyone else accessing them. This architecture can be independently verified. HarmBlock does not make external server calls to process content, so there's no data leaving the device to enable the technology to work.
Q: What does it cost, and is there a free version?
A: No. HarmBlock is not currently free. Our ultimate aim is to ensure that it is free at the point of use for families, and that the responsibility for making that happen sits with platforms and device manufacturers, not with parents. Keeping children safe online is part of what ‘safety by design’ means in practice, and technology like HarmBlock should be built into devices and platforms as standard, in the same way a seatbelt isn't an optional extra a parent has to source and pay for separately. Until that becomes the norm across the industry, SafeToNet continues to develop and offer HarmBlock directly to families and partners.
Q: Is my child's data ever sold, shared with advertisers, or used to train other AI systems?
A: No. HarmBlock operates on the device and doesn't collect or transmit content off the device in the first place, so there's nothing to sell, share with advertisers, or hand to another AI system to train on.