Welcome to Axis ProRata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech business and politics.

Sponsored by Bridge Bank, be bold, venture wisely.

I'm Dan Pramack.

On today's show, how Trump's taxes could keep him off some ballots and the rise of meatless meat.

But first, using tech to save kids from tech.

Last week, actor Ashton Cutcher was at the giant TED Technology conference in Vancouver,

but he wasn't there to talk about a new TV show or his early investments in companies

like Uber or Airbnb.

Instead, he was there on behalf of a nonprofit he co-founded

over a decade ago that uses technology to fight human trafficking and, in particular, the

sexual exploitation of children. It's called Thorn, and was one of eight groups picked to share

over $280 million in grant funding through what Ted calls its audacious project.

So in this case, Cutcher announced that the specific goal of Thorn, or its new goal, is to

end online child pornography, which he argues is an invisible and growing public health crisis.

So for context, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reviews and catalogs over 480,000 such

images every week. That works out to 25 million such images per year, most of which are of kids

under the age of 12. Thorne's basic proposition is that if software can be used to propagate the

spread of child pornography, then it can also be used to limit that spread and in so doing

reduce the number of children being sexually abused and trafficked. In 20 seconds, we'll go deeper on

this in a conversation with Ashton Cutcher. The first, this. Bridgebank believes in the risk

takers, the game changers and the disruptors, those committed to leveraging innovation to make

the world a better place.

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