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Research

Research
June 6, 2023

New Research from Thorn: LGBTQ+ Minors are 3X More Likely to Experience Unwanted and Risky Online Interactions

In our latest research focusing on LGBTQ+ experiences online, we discovered that LGBTQ+ youth place enormous importance on online communities as places for exploration and perceived safety – but these platforms also carry their own risk of harm and risky…
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Research
February 7, 2023

New Research from Thorn: 22% of minors report having online sexual interactions with adults

According to Thorn's latest research, the features provided by platforms to help users block and report bad actors are simply insufficient in keeping kids safe online.
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School kids using smart phones in schoolyard
Research
October 25, 2022

New Thorn Research Monitors Evolution of Youth Attitudes and Experiences with SG-CSAM

Findings from 2021 reveal a sustained increase in the number of young people sharing their own SG-CSAM as well as the perceived normalcy of non-consensually re-sharing another child's SG-CSAM.
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School kids using smart phones in schoolyard
Research
August 3, 2022

New Research from Thorn: Many Kids Sharing Nudes Before Parents Talk to Them About Safety

At Thorn, we know that talking openly with kids about online safety not only increases their knowledge about the topic but their willingness to tell a parent when issues come up.  We also know that having conversations about online safety,…
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Two young teens sitting next to one another on a porch and looking at a smartphone.
Research
June 6, 2022

New Thorn Research Examines Youth Experiences and Attitudes about Online Grooming

Many of us remember being taught about “stranger danger” as kids. It seemed fairly straightforward at the time: Be careful around strangers. Avoid talking to people you don’t know. But in this digital age, socializing has completely changed – and…
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School kids using smart phones in schoolyard
Research
November 12, 2021

Thorn research: Trends confirm need for parents to talk about online safety with kids earlier, more often

At Thorn, we believe digital spaces should and can be safe for every child.  But we have arrived at a moment when the speed and scale of digital platform adoption has left many parents feeling disconnected with how their kids…
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Research
October 22, 2021

WeProtect’s new report confirms the need for a holistic, global response to child sexual abuse online

When I started working on this issue nearly 10 years ago, it quickly became clear that to effectively respond to the threat of online child sexual abuse at the speed and scale it would require, we needed much, much more…
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Three teens giving piggy back rides to three other teens.
Research
December 9, 2020

Thorn Research: Understanding sexually explicit images, self-produced by children

We’ve been hearing increasing concerns from our partners on the front lines about child sexual abuse material (CSAM) where there was no obvious abuser in the image. These images are referred to as self-generated images, or self-generated CSAM (SG-CSAM).  Self-generated…
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