A Look at the Thorn Industry Hash Sharing Platform

Thorn mobilizes cutting-edge technologies and leading technologists in the fight against human trafficking. One of the organization’s major achievements is its Industry Hash Sharing Platform, which it developed in 2012. Since 2014, the technology has been used by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Before Thorn created its hash-sharing technology, image-sharing platforms screened independently for child sexual abuse images and did not share intelligence with each other. Content removal was thus a redundant and terribly inefficient process.

To connect these platforms to identify content faster and report it more quickly, Thorn cooperated with Google, Facebook, and other technology industry leaders. The cloud-based hash-sharing tool is the first collaborative initiative in the industry that helps everyone find, report, and remove images of child abuse from digital networks more efficiently. Participating companies can use verified hashes shared by other participants to scan their own platforms and identify content immediately.

Individuals can learn more about this initiative and other tools created by Thorn at WeAreThorn.org.