Thorn CEO Julie Cordua: My Vision for 2025

As we begin 2025, I’m filled with both determination and hope as I reflect on Thorn’s journey and the critical work that lies ahead. 

The digital landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, bringing both new challenges and opportunities in our mission to defend children from sexual abuse and exploitation in the digital age. The need for our work is urgent – and the threats facing children online are becoming increasingly complex, sophisticated, and widespread. 

Yet I’ve never been more confident in our ability to meet these challenges head-on, thanks to our dedicated team, partners, customers, and donors who share our vision of a world where every child can be safe, curious, and happy.

 Here are the key areas where Thorn will focus our efforts in 2025:

1. Advancing technical innovation in a rapidly evolving digital world: As generative artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies reshape our digital landscape, Thorn remains at the forefront of developing innovative solutions to protect children.
   
   Our technical teams are pioneering new approaches to eliminate instances of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the web, leveraging advanced AI while ensuring ethical deployment and safety by design.
   
   This year, we’ll continue to scale our solutions globally while continuing to enhance our tools. This includes Safer – which continues to evolve, helping more companies detect, review, and report CSAM efficiently and effectively. We’re also ideating and developing new technologies that will help us stay ahead of emerging threats and better protect children in an increasingly complex digital environment.
2. Deepening and sharing the impact of our research: Understanding the changing nature of online risks to children is crucial for developing effective solutions. In 2025, we’re investing in our research initiatives to provide vital insights into emerging threats and youth experiences online. This research will not only inform our own work but will also help guide the broader child protection community.
3. Empowering frontline investigators: Our commitment to supporting the investigators on the frontlines of identifying and rescuing child victims – individuals who have some of the most difficult and taxing jobs on the planet –  remains unwavering. In 2025, we’re continuing to share tools – like our CSAM Classifier – and other resources that will help these frontline defenders work more efficiently and effectively in identifying child victims of abuse and removing them from harm.

Looking ahead: a revamped strategy for Thorn’s next chapter

As the digital landscape becomes increasingly complex, Thorn will continue to adapt, change, and scale our impact. The rapid advancement of AI and other emerging technologies presents both challenges and opportunities in our fight against child sexual abuse. But with these challenges comes unprecedented potential for innovation and impact. 

Keep your eye on your inbox, because in the coming months, we’ll be sharing more about our vision for the future – and we’ll launch our new, expanded organizational strategy to meet this moment. 

None of this would be possible without your support – thank you. You fuel our innovative approaches that allow us to continue to scale our impact globally while remaining agile enough to address new threats as they emerge.

Together, we are making real, tangible change for children – and I look forward to advancing this work together in 2025 and beyond.