Ashton Kutcher has been working to fight sex-trafficking for years and recently reported that his organization, Thorn, identified 5,791 victims in 2017.
The Hollywood heartthrob founded Thorn, an organization that works to eradicate the sex-trafficking trade around the world.
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Thorn works to “join forces with the sharpest minds from tech, non-profit, government and law enforcement. We work to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material and stand up to child traffickers. We’re also uncovering new kinds of abuse, and fighting those too.”
Thorn: Digital Defender of Childen, uses advanced software to not only hunt down sex traffickers but to bring them to justice. They work with local law enforcement in countries around the world by bringing information about leads on sex slavery networks, the disgusting humans that run them, and the victims suffering inside.
Each year the NGO releases an “impact report” which states what progress they have made in the field each year.
“With the help of Thorn’s tools, law enforcement and investigators have been able to identify 5,791 child sex trafficking victims and rescue 103 children from situations where their sexual abuse was recorded and distributed. We’re building tools to stand up the toughest environments and empowering the frontlines to stop abuse before it happens,” the organization revealed in its 2017 impact report.
Thorn was co-founded in 2009, by Kutcher and his wife Demi Moore. The organization has focused on advancing their technology as quickly and efficiently as they can, hoping to help more and more people each and every day. The NGO has a large focus on building mobile tools in order to keep up with the latest technology.
They also work to partner with various major and influential tech firms, as well as government groups in order to cover every single aspect of the organization.
One part of Thorn that sets it apart from other anti-trafficking organizations is how they work to bring resources to help not only the victims but the perpetrators.
“We communicate directly with people searching for child sexual abuse material, disrupting their sense of anonymity, aiming to change their behavior and increase their accountability. Our child sexual abuse deterrence program has seen over 2.6 million visitors and 140,000+ instances where individuals went on to actively seek further help,” the report says.
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The report also pointed out that due to Thorn’s relationship with law enforcement in various places, the investigation time in global sex abuse has been sped up by 65%
Kutcher has championed for sex-trafficking victims through Thorn but has also even testified in front of Congress for them too.
In 2017, Kutcher went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to testify on sex-trafficking work in the United States.
“As part of my anti-trafficking work, I’ve met victims in Russia. I’ve met victims in India, I’ve met victims that have been trafficked from Mexico. Victims from New York and New Jersey and all across our country. I’ve been on FBI raids where I’ve seen things that no person should ever see,” Kutcher explained.
Even though Thorn was able to identify 5,791 child sex trafficking victims and rescue 103 children in 2017, Kutcher is only ramping up missions.
Last month, he told CBS “48 Hours” that Thorn is only becoming more effective and will continue to expand.
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“You can roll up your sleeve and go try to be like a hero and save one person, or you can build a tool that allows one person to save a lot of people,” he said in the episode. “And our algorithms are getting better. We’re getting smarter. We’re getting the tool in more people’s hands.”
To read the full report or for more information on Thorn visit their website.