“When I was trafficked, the guy knew about me from my Facebook account and was looking for me. He was able to name every place I hung out. All the people I knew at the time. He trolled my parents for a while, harassing them and telling them I was dead or in jail.”
That’s how human trafficking survivor Brandilea Adams remembers the genesis of the worst years of her life.
Sadly, Brandilea is not the only one whose trafficking story involves social media as a key medium for exploitation. According to Alyssa Currier Wheeler of the Human Trafficking Institute, between 2000 and 2020, 30% of sex trafficking survivors in U.S. federal cases were recruited by their trafficker on social media. In 2021, the number was 41%. Today, it’s even higher.
And that’s not accounting for the common underreporting of cases or the preponderance of deceptive job offers leading to labor trafficking.
The Exodus Road has found this to be true in our anti-trafficking work throughout Brazil, India, Latin America, the Phillipines, Thailand, and the United States. Social media is consistently in the top 5 recruitment methods we witness in the cases we investigate. Unfortunately, despite increasing pressure for better regulation, tech giants like Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, and Discord continue to absolve themselves of responsibility — even when internal documents show that they know the cost.
The prevalence of exploitation within social media communities is undeniable. What does human trafficking on social media actually look like, and what can we do about it?
How do human traffickers use social media?
It’s important to recognize that traffickers often look like any other member of society. Although it’s easy to caricature traffickers as nothing more than scheming criminals, the reality is that they’re also humans. They use dating apps. They play online games. They even doomscroll on their Instagram, just like you probably do. The difference is that while they are using these platforms, they have another agenda.
Recruitment methods on social media
Data is scant, but it does indicate that there’s been a brisk digital market for recruiting people into trafficking for as long as social media has existed. Exploitation always begins with a vulnerability. Traffickers may prowl through profiles, looking for a weak point to exploit or a perceived need they can promise to meet.
Traffickers might scout out someone’s social media looking for these needs:
- Financial stability/employment
- Romantic partnership
- Love and affirmation
- Housing
- Physical safety (from domestic abuse, local unrest, or war)
Once one of those entry points is identified, a trafficker begins to work on further weakening the boundaries of the person they’re targeting. Sometimes this might happen slowly, such as in “boyfriending” or “Romeo pimp” situations where the trafficker poses as a compassionate, flirtatious potential partner. Other times, this might happen quickly, such as when a comment on a post extends a seemingly legitimate job opportunity.
The kinds of jobs that traffickers might offer online span just about every industry. Many young women are recruited into sex trafficking through offers of modeling, such as in the infamous GirlsDoPorn trafficking case. This is particularly common in countries with a high saturation of social media use. False modeling promises are sometimes the start to cases The Exodus Road investigates in Latin America, such as in Daniela’s story.
But other jobs are less glamorous, offering simple stability: housekeeping, hotel labor, restaurant service, or agriculture. These job postings, too, can quickly give way to sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and debt bondage.
Despite the title, “boyfriending” as a tactic can be applied by traffickers of any gender toward any gender. This method usually exists in the presence of a power imbalance, such as an age difference or socioeconomic class gap between partners. The imbalance allows the trafficker to psychologically manipulate their victim, using the other person’s genuine love as a weapon against them.
The “boyfriending” tactic was core to Candela’s story. Lured far from her home in Argentina by a long-distance boyfriend in Brazil, the young woman found herself forced to beg at a traffic light.
Other times, traffickers might cultivate friendships or other kinds of relationships online, establishing a sense of loyalty that can then be used to demand “favors” in the form of exploitive sex or labor.
Methods of social media control
After a trafficker has ensnared the victims of their crime, they may continue using social media as a method of control. In Polaris’s National Survivor Study, 32% of sex trafficking survivors reported that their traffickers monitored their social media use. People trapped in trafficking sometimes lose control of their electronics to their trafficker and are unable to send any message or communication to others without the risk of their trafficker seeing it.
Worse, sometimes traffickers actually coopt the accounts as their own. A trafficker might impersonate someone in order to spread explicit or shameful stories and photos of them. They might also use a victim’s profile to send false messages and alienate family and friends.
All of this contributes to a narrative that traffickers often impress on those they exploit: that there is no way to ask for help, and no one would believe them if they tried.
Traffickers advertise on social media
Once a trafficker has taken over control of someone’s account, they might use it to advertise their victim for sex or labor services. Sometimes, traffickers just use their own social media profiles to advertise.
The Exodus Road’s team witnesses this often in Thailand, where many of our cases begin on X (formerly known as Twitter). Investigations frequently begin with tweets reading like this one: “there is a girl who accepts an inexpensive job, ready to make an appointment.”
For those trained to identify and investigate cases of trafficking, that language indicates more than meets the eye. These kinds of advertisements are rampant in the U.S. as well.
According to Alexandra Gelber, the Deputy Chief for Policy and Legislation at the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the United States’ Department of Justice, “For over a decade, online advertising has been the main tactic used by traffickers to solicit buyers for commercial sex. In 2020, over 80% of the [Justice Department’s] sex trafficking prosecutions involved online advertising.”
Although sometimes it’s hard for law enforcement to identify the euphemisms traffickers use, at other times, the advertising is much more blatant. In the Middle East, it’s normalized for trafficking auctions to be held, selling the services of women for domestic work under the kafala system. Specific hashtags serve as a gathering point for those interested in buying and selling the contracts for these women.
What social media platforms are traffickers using?
The most popular platforms implemented by traffickers vary from country to country. However, Meta (parent to Facebook and Instagram) and X have consistently played host to a vast amount of exploitative content, globally.
In one 2020 study of 133 sex trafficking cases, 59% of survivors were recruited on Facebook and 13% on Instagram.
Polaris, which operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the United States, has reported that platforms traffickers commonly use include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik, and dating sites such as Plenty of Fish, OKCupid, and Tinder.
In an in-depth investigation by The Guardian, they spoke directly to a self-described pimp who cited Instagram as his platform of choice: “I find the girls that have pride in themselves, but maybe don’t have the confidence, the self-esteem. I make her feel special. I give her validation, social skills, her ‘hotential’, if you know what I mean.”
You might wonder how exploitation can be happening at this scale without Meta intervening. At surface value, they do claim to be committed to preventing the exploitation of children.
“The exploitation of children is a horrific crime — we don’t allow it and we work aggressively to fight it on and off our platforms,” one Meta spokesperson said.
But despite the policies they say then enact to protect kids, in practice, The Guardian discovered that most content moderators at Meta felt like their reports about Child Sexual Abuse Material or trafficking largely went unheard. Open tickets were often closed without comment or action.
This lack of attention has led to a flurry of lawsuits steadily building into a storm.
In January of 2024, a U.S. Senate hearing sought to hold the leadership of major social media networks— including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg— accountable for the harm their platforms have hosted. Zuckerberg issued an apology to parents who have lost their teens to sextortion-related suicide, while simultaneously claiming that social media does not harm teenagers. The hearing was an ominous bellwether of big tech’s attitude towards exploitation.
Human trafficking survivors and social media
Here’s the good news: survivors of trafficking are resilient and resourceful. They can take even the tool of their exploitation and transform it into an asset for their freedom.
Even with the constant threat of detection from a trafficker monitoring their social media use, survivors are often able to use platforms with disappearing message features (such as Snapchat) to reach out to friends and family and ask for help.
Freedom United told the story of Georgina, a survivor from Malawi who experienced labor and sexual exploitation in Oman. She courageously made a Facebook post about her circumstances, which caught the attention of an activist. Soon, Georgina’s testimony gathered over 50 more women in similar circumstances. They all joined a secret Facebook group, which allowed allies and advocates to help them find freedom.
Evidence of survivors utilizing social media for good extends to the U.S. as well. In Polaris’s study of U.S. sex trafficking survivors, 19% shared that social media had played a role in their ability to escape trafficking. Many survivors also reported using social media to communicate with service providers like case managers, housing providers, counseling services, or legal help.
Often, educational or awareness material on social media might be the first time a survivor of exploitation understands that they are experiencing a crime. Survivor leader Megan Lundstrom has used this to her advantage. For years after her exit, she has maintained an Instagram account as a medium for connecting with thousands of others experiencing sexual exploitation. This has allowed her to offer help in a way that would never have been accessible in more formalized channels.
Survivors of trafficking can also use social media to share their stories and take back their voice. This outlet can offer solidarity, hope, and empowerment to those still stuck while providing vital information and empathy to allies in the anti-trafficking fight. At The Exodus Road, we have been moved and inspired by leaders like Jessa Crisp, Jose Alfaro, Isami Daehn, Rebecca Bender, and many others who have used their platforms to amplify the gift of their stories of survival.
How to stay safe from human trafficking on social media
How can you stay safe while also knowing that traffickers may be participants in the digital world you access any time you open an app?
Fortunately, you’ve already taken the first step by reading this far. Education is prevention, and the more you know about how traffickers operate, the more easily you’ll be able to guard against them.
Beyond awareness, here are a few simple steps you can take to stay safe from human traffickers online:
1. Utilize social media privacy settings
As survivors of online exploitation clamor for justice, social media platforms are increasingly pressured into implementing better privacy settings. Make sure that your privacy settings are functioning the way that you want, and check back often to see what new updates might have been released.
There are also a few common-sense rules we recommend you follow: Turn off microphone and location access for any apps except those that are strictly necessary. Don’t accept random friend or follow requests. Consider making profiles like Instagram private, or use the “Close Friends” list to limit who within your audience can see your most personal content.
2. Be careful about what you post online
Would you shout it in a room full of thousands of strangers? If not, you probably shouldn’t post it on social media.
Even when private messaging, practice care and diligence. Don’t send nudes or sexually explicit images; this can quickly lead to sextortion and possibly even more extreme exploitation like online trafficking. No matter how much someone threatens you, you never owe anyone access to you, your personal information, your body, or your heart.
3. Know how to report exploitation or suspicious circumstances
Social media platforms have options to report posts and profiles. If you see something that feels suspicious, it’s better to play it safe and submit a report. In most cases, this will take only seconds of your time.
In clear and urgent cases of trafficking or online sexual exploitation, you can report to the appropriate authorities. Bookmark these resources:
- CyberTipline: report missing or exploited kids
- Take it Down: a tool to have explicit photos of yourself removed from the internet
- National Human Trafficking Hotline: you can chat live online or call 1-888-373-7888
4. Keep learning
We know that social media will continue to change faster than advocates and legislators can keep up with it. This means that every one of us is responsible for staying informed about how to make the online world safer.
To that end, The Exodus Road created Influenced, a digital safety curriculum full of insight gathered from our work investigating exploitation for more than a decade.
Right now, parents and guardians can enroll in our online, video-based, Influenced Parent Academy to equip themselves with the knowledge to help their kids navigate the challenging digital frontier. If you’re ready to uplevel your ability to keep your family safe from online exploitation, access the training now at influenced.org/academy.
