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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Julie Cordua, CEO of Thorn, met with European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson last week amidst the Commissioner's meetings with Silicon Valley tech leaders to discuss proposed EU legislation that would require platforms to do more to prevent child sexual abuse online.

Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is a global, pervasive problem on the internet, and the European Union is poised to take groundbreaking regulatory action to tackle the urgent issue. Recent research from WeProtect shows that 54% of children across the world have experienced at least one harmful sexual encounter online. Additionally, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) revealed that they had surpassed 100 million received reports of child sexual exploitationalmost all relating to images and videos circulating online of children being sexually abused, with nearly 80% of those files depicting children under the age of 12, according to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

Thorn's mission is to eliminate child sexual abuse from the internet, and the nonprofit has developed tools that help tech companies combat the issue by identifying and removing CSAM from their platforms.

"I am thankful for the great work that Commissioner Johansson and her team are putting into this legislation. The EU is leading the fight against child sexual abuse online and could set standards that will improve the safety of children across the world. We at Thorn applaud the attention they're giving to this serious and urgent issue and look forward to providing our expertise wherever it is needed," said Julie Cordua, CEO of Thorn.

In their meeting, Cordua laid out Thorn's perspective on how lawmakers in the EU can help us to defend children across the world:

"Currently, global systems aren't doing enough to defend children from sexual abuse online. The EU has the power to set new standards for the safety of children, providing a clear legal framework for tech companies that encourages collaboration and innovative solutions. The European Commission could set a global example that will move us closer to universal adoption of the proactive detection, reporting, and removal of CSAM," continued Cordua. "We need the EU's leadership to make a long-term commitment, backed with thoughtful legislation, to building a safer internetone where every child can simply be a kid."

About Thorn: Thorn is a nonprofit founded in 2012 to build technology to defend children from sexual abuse to eliminate child sex abuse material from the internet. Thorn creates products that identify child victims faster, provides services for the tech industry to play a proactive role in removing abuse content from their platforms, and works directly with youth and communities to build resilient kids. Learn more about Thorn's mission to build technology to defend children from sexual abuse at Thorn.org.

SOURCE Thorn

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Thorn Engages with European Commission to Develop Solutions to Stop the Spread of Child Sexual Abuse Material - PRNewswire