Thorn Urges Meta to Rethink its Messenger Encryption Strategy

At Thorn, our mission is to build technology to defend children from sexual abuse.

We believe that both privacy and safety can coexist in online environments and that the creation of safe digital spaces for children can be done in a privacy-forward way requiring complex tradeoffs.

Today’s announcement by Meta that it will move Messenger for Facebook to full end-to-end encryption does not adequately balance privacy and safety. We anticipate this change will result in a massive amount of abuse material going undetected and unreported—essentially turning Messenger into a safe haven for the circulation of child sexual abuse material.

We strongly encourage Meta to rethink its encryption strategy and to implement stronger child safety measures that adequately address known risks to children before proceeding.

Decisions like Meta’s Messenger end-to-end encrypting have a direct impact on our collective ability to defend children from sexual abuse. Thorn is committed to developing and sharing technologies and strategies that protect children across all digital environments. We invite our partners and the broader tech community to join this crucial conversation, fostering a future where privacy and safety can coexist harmoniously.