Actor Ashton Kutcher has claimed that he has helped save 6,000 child abuse victims.
The 39-year-old co-founded the nonprofit project Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children in 2009 with his ex-wife and actress Demi Moore.
Thorn uses technology to eradicate child sex abuse and aids the police in identifying abusers.
According to INC, Kutcher spoke at the Dreamforce software conference in San Francisco on Monday about Thorn.
He said:
It is not the force for good or the force for evil. That’s you. You are the force for good or the force for evil.
There are millions of images that are transferred daily of child abuse material.
We’ve identified 6,000 children that are being abused. We’ve identified 12,000 adults that are also being abused, and 6,000 abusers.
The only question we have to ask ourselves is, ‘How good are we?’
I’ve articulated my purpose. The question is, what is yours?
Those really are astonishing figures.
During his speech, Kutcher also explained how his project researches and funds various tools that help both law enforcement agencies and other nonprofit organisations to tackle the problem.
For example, in 2013 Thorn partnered with the Salesforce Foundation and Twilio to create a text messaging service that could be used by The National Human Trafficking Hotline.
As he said, the project helps both children and adults who are victims of abuse.
Earlier this year in February, Kutcher revealed that his project had identified 2,000 child victims of trafficking.
In an emotional speech that was delivered to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said:
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.
I’ve seen video content of a child that’s the same age as mine being raped by an American man that was a sex tourist in Cambodia.
And this child was so conditioned by her environment that she thought she was engaging in play.
She’d been abused for three years and they’d watched her for three years and they could not find the perpetrator, asking us for help.
We were the last line of defence. An actor and his foundation were the potential last line of defence.
That’s my day job and I’m sticking to it.
The actor has two young children with his wife actress Mila Kunis.
Citing U2 frontman Bono as being one of his philanthropic inspirations, it appears that Kutcher’s hard work is really paying off.
He is currently co-starring in Netflix comedy The Ranch alongside former That ’70s Show co-star Danny Masterton who is facing four allegations of sexual assault including rape.
The LAPD are investigating the claims but Netflix has said that they are not taking any immediate action in response to the allegations.
Meanwhile Masterson has denied all allegations claiming that they were motivated by a producer who worked on the anti-Scientology series Leah Reminini: Scientology and the Aftermath, reports the Independent.
Masterson has been a longtime member of the Church of Scientology.
