Thorn and WeProtect Global Alliance Release Report on New and Emerging Technologies Impacting Online Child Safety

“Evolving Technologies Horizon Scan” brings together insights from global experts to proactively identify and address tech trends affecting the fight against online child sexual abuse and exploitation

LOS ANGELES — December 4, 2024 — Thorn, a nonprofit that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse, and WeProtect Global Alliance, a global movement of 310 organizations transforming the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation online, today released a new report, “Evolving Technologies Horizon Scan: A review of technologies carrying notable risk and opportunity in the fight against online child sexual exploitation.”

Launched at the WeProtect 2024 Global Summit in Abu Dhabi and online this week, the new research assembles input from nearly 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. 

Key technologies examined in the survey include predictive AI, generative AI, end-to-end encryption, extended reality, decentralization, and quantum computing.

“The rapid pace of technological innovation brings wonderful and exciting opportunities but also risks, especially for children growing up in this digital age,” said Julie Cordua, CEO of Thorn. “It’s vital that we proactively identify and address these emerging threats. This report, bolstered by the expertise of hundreds of global stakeholders, arms us with important insights to build a safer digital world for the next generation.”

Iain Drennan, Executive Director of WeProtect Global Alliance, said: “To prevent and respond to child sexual abuse and exploitation, we need to get ahead of the curve. We need to understand how children and perpetrators will interact with emerging technologies and ensure safety is built in from the very start. With this report, we bring together expert views on technologies that will have a major impact on children’s online safety in the future. To ensure children can take advantage of all the opportunities of the digital world, we need to be ready for what is coming over the technological horizon.”

Key findings from the report include:

• Multiple technologies must be considered together. No single technology can be the sole focus. The technologies highlighted in this report do not operate in isolation, nor do children or offenders use them independently. Addressing only one technology at a time risks creating critical protection gaps.
  
  
• A child’s privacy is integral to their safety. The debate around safeguarding children from online abuse often presents a false dichotomy: privacy removal with monitoring or reacting to abuse reports after the abuse or report of the abuse takes place. Neither extreme is holistic in protecting children’s safety and rights. 
• Technology presents both risks and solutions. While technology has accelerated risks of child sexual abuse and exploitation, it is also essential for combating these harms. However, building effective solutions requires diverse and specialized expertise and strong cross-sector and public support.

The report delves into the current and potential future implications, both positive and negative, of each key technology in relation to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse.

For example, while predictive AI is a critical tool to detect abusive content at scale, it may also suggest risky content and profiles to users.  Similarly, while XR technologies are unlocking travel and learning experiences previously out of reach for many, it also opens new environments and ways to socialize, often without the existing protections designed to keep digital interactions safe.

The full report can be accessed at https://www.thorn.org/research/library/evolving-technologies-horizon-scan/.

About Thorn

Thorn is a nonprofit that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. Founded in 2012, the organization creates products and programs to empower the platforms and people who have the ability to defend children. Thorn’s tools have helped the tech industry detect and report millions of child sexual abuse files on the open web, connected investigators and NGOs with critical information to help them solve cases faster and remove children from harm, and provided parents and youth with digital safety resources to prevent abuse. To learn more about Thorn’s mission to defend children from sexual abuse, visit thorn.org.

About WeProtect Global Alliance

WeProtect Global Alliance is a global movement bringing more than 310 government, private sector and civil society organisations working together to transform the global response to child sexual exploitation and abuse online. The Alliance is the largest and most diverse global movement dedicated to ending child sexual exploitation and abuse online. It supports and generates political commitment and practical approaches to make the digital world safe and positive for children, preventing sexual abuse and long-term harm. For more information visit https://www.weprotect.org/.