Thorn’s Automated Tool to Remove Child Abuse Content at Scale Expands to More Platforms through AWS Marketplace

Any content-hosting platform in AWS Marketplace can access Safer to proactively identify, remove, and report child sexual abuse material online 

Safer is one of the first holistic tools of its kind available in AWS Marketplace

LOS ANGELES — Today, Thorn announced that Safer — a holistic tool to allow platforms to proactively identify, remove, and report child sexual abuse material (CSAM) at scale — is now available in AWS Marketplace. The move makes the leading safety tool widely available and open to any content-hosting platform using Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The prevalence of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, has exploded on the internet, with reports rising by over 15,000% in the last 15 years. Today more companies are reporting it than ever before, and expanding access to Safer will allow companies to proactively identify, remove and report child sexual abuse material while broadening shared knowledge on this issue.

“Thorn is committed to building the internet and the world that we, and our children, deserve,” said Thorn CEO Julie Cordua. “With this best-in-class tool now easily accessible in AWS Marketplace, content-hosting platforms of any kind and size can protect children online with the click of a button — and the world got a little Safer.” 

Safer, which was developed to give tech companies of all sizes access to best-in-class technology to proactively detect CSAM, has expanded to some of the world’s most innovative content platforms such as Flickr, Imgur, and VSCO. Since 2019, the Safer community has identified over 183,000 CSAM files for removal and reporting to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), reducing technology barriers for platforms to integrate CSAM detection software and disrupting the cycle of trauma for survivors.

“At VSCO, the safety of our community is a top priority and something that we believe requires continued focus and investment,” said Joel Flory, CEO of VSCO. “Thorn has been a vital leader and partner to us in tackling this complex problem and has made tools like Safer more accessible to help us continue to innovate as we all work towards creating a safer Internet for all ages.”

Safer is flexible by design so companies can implement Safer to best fit their Trust & Safety needs to keep their communities safe. With access to over 10 million hashes — or digital fingerprints — of known CSAM, Safer matches photos and videos to known abuse files so they can be automatically detected and flagged for removal as it is being uploaded. Since its first beta customer was onboarded in 2019, Safer has hashed over 6.7 billion files, with a 99% precision in detecting both known and unknown CSAM.

“Any platform with an upload button is susceptible to the trading and hosting of this harmful and illegal content, and behind every file is a child victim in need of support or a survivor whose trauma continues to spread online,” said Caitlin Borgman, VP of Business Development at Thorn. “Identifying, removing, and reporting it disrupts the cycle of trauma and can help remove child victims from active abuse.”