Since 2019, Thorn has conducted annual research initiatives to better understand the experiences, challenges, and risks young people face in online spaces today. This work serves to:
Offer a snapshot of the current state of the issue through young people’s eyes
Showcase emerging trends rooted in an evolving digital landscape
Elevate areas where further exploration and discussion are needed
Kids today live digital-first lives. Online spaces offer connection, creativity, and learning — but they also introduce very real risks. Thorn’s annual monitoring research tracks how these risks evolve, providing an ongoing look at both persistent challenges and emerging threats.
Each year, this research helps us better understand the nuanced ways young people encounter and navigate online sexual risks, where progress has been made, and where urgent action is still needed.
This page highlights the top-line findings from the most recent report, describing what we refer to as “the State of the Issue.” To dive deeper — including year-over-year comparisons, emerging trends, and full insights into the digital lives of youth — read the full report here:
Young people are navigating sexual interactions, such as requests for nudes and intimate text messages, in their online experiences. And while some of these experiences are consensual, the risk of harm rises when they are outside of their age group, unsolicited, or non-consensual.
The decision to share nudes can be the result of sexual exploration and flirtation with a partner. However, some youth are being coerced into sharing through manipulation and deceit.
While the majority of 9-17-year-olds surveyed have not shared a nude image of themselves, many believe it is normal behavior among kids their age.
Even in events where a young person believes they are sharing their intimate images with someone they trust, too often that trust is violated and their images are leaked. Unfortunately, the blame often falls on the victims for having shared their images in the first place.
Minors who experienced an online sexual interaction engaged with both online tools and offline support, but many still choose to handle things alone.
During and immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant and sustained increase in minors who said they shared their own SG-CSAM with someone else or their social media followers. Yet after peaking at 18% in 2021, this number has fallen three years in a row, now at 11% in 2024. And while two thirds (66%) of minors who have shared their own SG-CSAM have done so within the past year, this number has also fallen since 2022, when it peaked at 78%.
As the proportion of minors who say they have shared their own SG-CSAM continues to fall, so has the number of minors who believe it is normal for people their age to share nudes with other minors. In 2024, only 1 in 5 minors (19%) agreed that it is normal, down from 23% in 2023 and 28% in 2020.
While overall trends are moving in a positive direction, younger boys are facing growing risks online. In 2024, 3 in 5 (59%) boys ages 9–12 reported being bullied or made uncomfortable online, and 1 in 3 (33%) said they had a sexual interaction online — both sharp increases from the year before.
The biggest jumps were in boys being sent sexual messages (+12%) and being asked to send nude photos or videos (+9%). Importantly, many of these interactions involved adults, marking the highest rates since tracking began in 2020.
The 2024 data presents a sharp rise, highlighting an area that merits closer examination. While one year of data does not establish a trend, further research is needed to understand whether this spike represents an outlier or signals a more sustained increase in the risks facing young boys online.
It’s critical that minors have the support they need to navigate online threats when they do occur. Yet, concerningly, the data suggests that minors who have had a potentially risky sexual interaction online may be less likely to have a trusted adult in their lives. For example, minors who have shared SG-CSAM were notably less likely than those who hadn’t to report having a trusted adult they could confide in if they had a serious problem.
And, it looks like the situation could be getting worse. The likelihood of turning to a trusted adult after having an online sexual interaction has decreased over the last several years, down 10 points since 2022. LGBTQ+ youth were the least likely to turn to a trusted adult (51%).
In recent years, extended reality, virtual reality, and augmented reality experiences have emerged as a new frontier for people to explore and connect with others online. While many minors are aware of the technology, most aren’t actively using it yet.
Overall, 2 in 3 (67%) minors have heard of the term “metaverse”, with awareness highest among older boys (aged 13–17) (75%) and LGBTQ+ youth (74%). Despite high levels of awareness, fewer than a quarter of minors (23%) have used or explored a metaverse. Even teenage boys (24%), who are most familiar with the term, have used or explored a metaverse at a similar rate as minors overall.
This gap between high metaverse awareness and low actual usage among minors presents an important opportunity to ensure these environments are built safely and users are equipped with effective strategies to respond to uncomfortable or unsafe experiences. Existing research has highlighted harms that have already been observed in these spaces, such as exposure to graphic content, sexually abusive interactions, and the challenges to content moderation in such environments. Although adoption has been gradual and market forecasts for XR technologies are mixed, rapidly advancing technical capabilities and declining costs mean we should prepare for continued adoption. It is vital that minor safety is made a priority before these technologies reach widespread adoption among young people.
In our current, fast-evolving digital landscape, young individuals face novel and sometimes unforeseen difficulties as they navigate through their youth. We must continue to create strategies focused on establishing secure online spaces and enacting robust protective measures.
Such approaches must incorporate the insights and lived experiences of young people in order to guarantee their efficacy in addressing the needs and concerns of kids today.
This data was collected through an online survey of 1,048 minors from across the United States participated in an online survey from November 13 to December 6, 2024. Specifically, sample makeup included 280 9-12-year-olds and 768 13-17-year-olds.
To ensure a representative sample nationwide, data was weighted to age, gender, race, and geography, based on U.S. Census data.