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Help Us End Child Sex Trafficking: Support Thorn on #GivingTuesday

December 3, 2013

2 Minute Read

On Giving Tuesday, we’re thankful for Ron Conway, who has pledged to match every donation to Thorn — up to $50,000 — through the end of this year.

Ron, one of Silicon Valley’s visionaries, has been a staunch supporter of Thorn from the early stages of the organization. In 2009, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore called upon Ron to help them bring together technology leaders to address the role technology played in child sex trafficking and exploitation. Ron didn’t think twice — he immediately convened the best and brightest minds in technology to tackle this issue. The meeting Ron initiated in 2009 has since turned into the Thorn Technology Task Force with more than 25 participating companies and multiple programs underway. Members of the task force have helped create the Thorn Sound Practices guide and a shared hash program — the first collaborative effort to help companies screen their platforms for child pornography. They have also partnered with us in our online deterrence programs targeting those seeking to exploit children.

Eighteen months ago, Ron showed his support for our cause again by providing seed funding for one of our initiatives — building an algorithm to help law enforcement identify minors sold online. His investment is already paying off — in an initial 24-hour field test, our tool helped law enforcement identify several teens. Our goal in 2014 is to finalize the testing of this tool and roll it out to law enforcement nationwide to help them identify and rescue more children sold on the Internet.

And now Ron, through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, has stepped up again to help us in the fight against child sex trafficking by doubling the impact of your donation with a matching grant.

Please consider supporting Thorn on Giving Tuesday to help us end child sex trafficking. Your investment will help us advance the work we’re doing to identify and help children who are sold online. With your support, we can continue field-testing our tool, refine the algorithm and build it into an effective tool for law enforcement nationwide to help rescue children and connect them with victim services.

Thank you.

Learn more about child sexual exploitation in this video, read more about Thorn’s fight, check out our work, and get educated on the child sex trafficking facts and child abuse imagery statistics.

 



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