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Building technology to serve every child in 2020 and beyond

December 18, 2020

3 Minute Read

Head shot of Julie Cordua

Friend,

Nearly a decade of scrappy growth has taught us a lot about how to work with uncertainty — how to thrive in it. There wasn’t a playbook when we founded Thorn almost a decade ago. 

We knew there was a problem — we didn’t know it was an epidemic. In the last 15 years, we have seen a 15,000% increase in reports of child sexual abuse material. Predators document abuse through photos and videos, and share that abuse content with others in online communities that are dedicated to the abuse of children on both the dark web and online platforms that you and I use every day.  

We have a huge opportunity, and also a huge responsibility, to stand up and fight for kids. I know we’re all being called in many directions this year, and I need your attention on this. Because you are the people who have been willing to turn towards this issue.

We need more people like you.

Last year, we announced our plan to eliminate Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from the internet. Today, we are closer to our goal, but only because of this unwavering community. 

We have three pillars to our work that allow us to confront this epidemic through system-based solutions that will ensure we’re defending the most vulnerable children in our lives:

1. Ensuring law enforcement around the world has the data and tools at their fingertips to find kids as fast as humanly possible. And throughout this year we’ve been building new features for our products that help to find child victims even as workloads shift for the law enforcement tasked with responding to COVID in their communities.

2. Ensuring every tech company is committed to stopping the spread of child sexual abuse material and keeping children safe online. We launched our solution, Safer, this fall, and already have 12 incredible companies on board defending their platforms from CSAM.

3. Ensuring that NGOs who are processing the millions of reports from tech companies are working with the most advanced technology and data to ensure no child is missed. This work doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it’s an ecosystem of dedicated individuals all playing a critical role. 

And for the first time, we’re talking to kids directly about abuse they’re experiencing, risks they encounter online, and how they can stay safe. Prevention work is a critical aspect to building a world where resilient kids are safe, curious, and happy.

And as we are building, we are ensuring that the technology being built and the data being shared is first and foremost working for every childWe are breaking down silos, building world class products, and every day we continue to earn the trust of front line workers as the only entity whose sole mission is to build tech for defending children.  

I hope you’ll stand with us this year as we are planning big things for 2021, and know they will be better if you’re there with us on the front lines of this life changing work.

— Julie Cordua, CEO



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