Research Library

Year of Publication

Year of Data Collection

Topic

Monitoring

Population

Sexual Extortion & Young People: Navigating Threats in Digital Environments

Drawing on a survey of 1,200 young people aged 13-20, this research explores the prevalence and nature of sexual extortion involving young people, examining how technology has transformed traditional dynamics of digital abuse.

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April, 2025

Commodified Sexual Interactions Involving Minors: New data on evolving dynamics in technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation

Drawing on a survey of 1,200 young people aged 13-20, this research explores the prevalence and nature of commodified sexual interactions involving minors, examining how technology has transformed traditional dynamics of commercial sexual exploitation to include diverse forms of compensation beyond monetary exchange.

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March, 2025

Deepfake Nudes & Young People: Navigating a New Frontier in Technology-facilitated Nonconsensual Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

Drawing on a survey of 1,200 young people aged 13-20, this research explores their awareness of deepfake nudes, lived experiences with them, and their involvement in creating such content.

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December, 2024

Evolving Technologies Horizon Scan

Thorn, in partnership with WeProtect Global Alliance, assembles input from roughly 300 multidisciplinary stakeholders from around the world to analyze critical technology trends whose evolution stands to significantly impact online child safety in the next 5-10 years.

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August, 2024

Youth Perspectives on Online Safety, 2023

Thorn’s annual report of Youth Perspectives on Online Safety represents the fifth year of data collection on youth behaviors and attitudes toward online safety topics. This year expands to include emerging threats such as AI-generated CSAM (“deepfake nudes”) and sextortion.

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June, 2024

Trends in Financial Sextortion: An investigation of sextortion reports in NCMEC CyberTipline data

In partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), this research examines more than 15 million reports made to the CyberTipline from 2020 to 2023 to pinpoint cases of sextortion and examine the evolving scale and nature of financially motivated sextortion. Importantly, while sextortion can affect all ages, this report focuses explicitly on the sextortion of minors.

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February, 2024