Human trafficking

How tech companies are trying to combat trafficking

Sex trafficking and human slavery are certainly nothing new, but the internet has created a lawless space for predators to buy and sell people. Today, more than 150,000 escort ads are posted in the US every day, many of them for children. The human trafficking industry enslaves an estimated 27 million people worldwide.

Now, an organization is turning to the very features of the internet that make trafficking so widespread to combat it. Thorn partners with technology companies like Google, Pinterest, Facebook and others to help identify and rescue children, and possibly catch predators.

Last month, a video of Thorn founder Ashton Kutcher went viral when he gave very personal testimony to the US Senate on the tragedy of child trafficking. Earlier this year, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee sponsored a bill that eventually became a law to direct $50 million in federal money annually to combat sex trafficking and human slavery in the US.