John Buckley

"John Buckley is a smart and committed trust and safety leader who excels at building partnerships and drawing together tech, research, and community expertise to develop more effective, evidence-based policies and practices. I have always appreciated and benefited from my opportunities to collaborate with John, and look forward to future opportunities."

Michael Seto, PhD, University of Ottawa and author of "Online Sexual Offending: Theory, Practice, and Policy" 

"John has a rare blend of deep academic rigour in child safety with a pragmatic, results-oriented approach to policy and product development. He's my first call for help finding an evidence-based solution when I'm navigating a tricky problem space" 

Melissa Benjamin, Product Lead, Child Safety & NCII Protections @ Google

“I have worked with John on two major projects. He has a deep knowledge of the problem of online child sexual exploitation, gained on the front line as a professional tasked with preventing such abuse on major online platforms. John is committed to evidence-based strategies and recognises the value of collaboration between researchers and the Internet industry.”

Richard Wortley AM, Emeritus Professor of Security & Crime Science, University College London 

"John brings unparalleled expertise in abuse deterrence, prevention, and emerging threat identification. He has helped push industry to adopt novel and research-backed solutions to child safety, while ensuring his recommendations are immediately actionable, viable to implement, and designed to scale effectively for tech companies big and small. John's work has unlocked new potential for an internet that prioritises child safety and agency."

Melissa Stroebel, Vice President of Research & Insights · Thorn

"John demonstrates a steadfast commitment to child safety, which drives his dedication to building collaborative partnerships with others in related fields who share the same mission. He is consistently accessible, engaged, and thoughtful in his approach, making him a valuable partner to work with."

Ainslie Heasman, Ph.D., C.Psych,  President, Association for the Treatment & Prevention of Sexual Abuse (ATSA)

"I had the privilege of managing John during his time on Meta's Programs and Partnerships team, where he focused primarily on Child Safety strategy and programs. From the outset, he brought a rare combination of strategic thinking, deep subject matter expertise, and genuine care for the safety and well-being of vulnerable users. He consistently demonstrated respect and inclusivity, quickly building trust with teammates, cross-functional partners, and external stakeholders. With high integrity, a proven ability to navigate complex and sensitive issues, and a collaborative approach, I’d recommend John to any company looking to strengthen their strategic Child Safety initiatives."

Maggie Cook Kerr, Former Colleague at Meta; Trust and Safety Practitioner

"John Buckley is one of those exceptional professionals who consistently shows up with both excellence and empathy. He is a trusted voice in the child safety ecosystem, and has more than earned that trust. Whether it's prevention, emerging threats, or the daily labour of online safety, John has proved his leadership across the board. Any team he is a part of is lucky to have him!"

Dr. Rebecca Portnoff, Vice President - Data Science, Thorn

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation has worked with John over many years, starting when John was at Facebook and more recently whilst at Google. We are a child protection charity that works to prevent child sexual abuse, and this includes working with people who pose a risk of harm to children and diverting them from causing harm. This is not always an easy message to land with tech companies but John understands the need to do this in order to protect children and has been a great supporter of our work. John was instrumental in the implementation of a deterrence warning for child sexual abuse at Facebook and more recently in the updated CSAM Onebox at Google, the early signs from which show that it is successful in driving more people to seek help to stop. John has also been a fantastic advocate for our work amongst the wider industry and this has directly contributed to us building new partnerships. On a personal level, John has been brilliant to work with and has been very generous with his time in giving counsel. I genuinely hope that there will be many more opportunities to work with John again."

Frances Frost, Director of Advocacy and Communications, Lucy Faithfull Foundation

Research Contributions 

• "Understanding the intentions of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) sharers" (2021) - Meta (co author)

• "Safety by Design for Generative AI: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse" (2024) - Thorn/All Tech is Human (contributor)

• "Responsible AI and Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Online; Progress Update" (2025) - Google (co author) 

Peer Reviews/Paper Contributions 

• Insoll, T., Ovaska, A. K., Nurmi, J., Aaltonen, M., & Vaaranen-Valkonen, N. (2022). Risk Factors for Child Sexual Abuse Material Users Contacting Children Online: Results of an Anonymous Multilingual Survey on the Dark Web. Journal of Online Trust and Safety, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.54501/jots.v1i2.29 (peer reviewer)

• Gane, G., Watters, P., Wortley, R., & Prichard, J. (2024). Blurring the lines: the vague boundary between mainstream and deviant internet pornography tags for at-risk viewers. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2024.2410352 (expert rater) 

• Smith, Sarah (2024). Chatbots and warning messages: innovations in the fight against online child sexual abuse https://www.lucyfaithfull.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Faithfull_Paper_Chatbots-1.pdf (peer reviwer) 

Media 

•  Pédocriminels, la traque (2025) - Arte 

Event Write Ups 

• Stop It Now! Ireland Conference: A pivotal moment in the fight against child sexual abuse in Ireland (2023) 

• Tech Coalition Hosts EU Briefing and Announces Research on Generative AI (2024)

• Recap: 2024 Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund Convening

Podcasts 

• Coming soon 

Other Contributions  

• TSPA EMEA Summit Program Committee (2024) 

• TSPA Coffee Chat Host

• Trust & Safety Professional Association meet and greet in Dublin for Child Safety professionals

• Tech Coalition Board Member (2025) 

• Tech Coalition Member Working Group Chair; GenAI and Innovation Working Groups  

Building online child safety programming requires expertise, care and experience.  John can help individuals and teams with; 

• Child Safety policy development, audit, and review 

• CSAM search prevention best practice consultations 

• Expert consultation on digital child sexual abuse and exploitation 

• Expert consultation on the intersection of genAI and child sexual abuse 

• Individual and manager support for working on CSAE 

• Child Safety events (speaker/content curation) 

• Lots more...just get in touch