Human trafficking recruitment through social media has been on the rise and children are especially at risk. In 2018, a startling 90 percent of human trafficking victims met their traffickers online. This is one of the reasons that the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center (STAC) has created a Toolkit designed specially to help caretakers and youth to be safe from human traffickers, especially online.
Marina Anderson, FDCF’s Regional Human Trafficking Coordinator, shared about these risks and social media safety in a webinar hosted by the STAC and The Big Bend Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Human trafficking is the exploitation and control of one person by another for profit, power, or commercial gain or benefit. It is a “crime of many crimes” – and one of the fastest growing globally. Here’s what you need to know about this issue and what you can do to protect your kids from online danger.
Risk Factors for Kids
COVID-19 and its societal impacts have caused human trafficking networks to go further underground with their illicit activities using technology. The exploitation of trafficking victims through the dark web and other internet-based methods has increased. There has also been an increase in online child sexual exploitation.
Those under the age of 18 are especially at risk because they frequently walk to school or the store alone or have unsupervised access to social media and/or gaming systems. Emotional factors, such as feelings of insecurity, desire to develop romantic relationships, feeling misunderstood, fighting with parents and wanting more independence can also put minors at risk. Traffickers often target youth who want to test their boundaries and take risks.
Online Grooming
Human traffickers sometimes use what’s called “sextortion,” a form of extortion, to coerce children on social media and game systems. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which power or blackmail is the means of coercion and can be coupled with the threatened release of sexual images or information.
Traffickers lure children into sex trafficking via social media recruitment even if children do not have high-risk factors. Potential traffickers may like, comment, ask to be friends and gather the information to recruit and groom youth.
Grooming can occur on messaging apps and websites – for example, a trafficker may convince a victim to send a risqué picture and then use it to extort them. They target their victims by spotting vulnerabilities, building trust, and getting them to share more and more in their pictures. They move from a monitored page to a less monitored page, and eventually coerce the victim into sharing or selling pictures of themselves online for the trafficker’s benefit
This type of grooming can occur on virtually any online platform, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp, Kik, Tinder and Ask.Fm. Click here for a toolkit with more information about the signs of human trafficking in youth.
Social Media Safety for Kids
One of the most effective ways to keep your kids safe on the internet is to become more involved with the youth’s online world. This means more than just talking to them about the dangers – an important first step. You can explain the way someone might pretend to be a friend and really be a trafficker, how traffickers target their victims, and red flags to watch out for.
Encourage them to communicate with you if they feel uncomfortable or unsure about an online interaction or if someone is asking them about their life, hobbies, school, their likes and dislikes, family or other things. Educate them on the dangers of “oversharing” online. Remind them that social media is not a diary or a personal photo album, and that people online are not always who they say they are.
In addition, have your kids follow this checklist of 10 things not to do on social networking sites:
- Never post your full name.
- Never post your date of birth.
- Never post your contact information, including your phone number, email or address.
- Never post pictures that you don’t want everyone to see.
- Never assume any online communication is private.
- Never post information about your school or work.
- Never share places or times of where you’re going to be.
- Never post information about new purchases.
- Never add friends you don’t really know.
- DO enable privacy on all accounts.
While this list is not exhaustive, it’s a good starting point for teaching kids what is and is not appropriate to share on the internet.
How to Get Involved
The internet can be a dangerous place, and minors are especially vulnerable to being targeted. As a parent, teacher, family member or friend, you can help protect them. First, try to educate yourself and stay up to date with new apps as they become popular – and before your kids access them. Check the kids’ devices frequently and thoroughly, including activity, messages and contacts. Set appropriate parental control, such as age restrictions for downloading apps and time restrictions.
Most importantly, maintain a connected relationship with your children. While safety features are helpful, you should rely more on your relationship with them than filters and other safeguards. Remember, at the end of the day, a child’s safety is more important than their privacy. As a parent or guardian, you aren’t being nosy by checking their cell phone regularly. You are being cautious.
Read more about talking with youth about human trafficking in STAC’s toolkit here.
Learn More with STAC
For more information, you can watch the entire webinar, titled “Danger Warning! Social Media and Sex Trafficking Recruitment,” here. You can also check out STAC’s helpful caregiver toolkit with resources for talking about human trafficking with youth here.
STAC’s website offers a rich array of information and additional webinars ranging from CEU-approved training for healthcare professionals to how to recognize the signs of human trafficking during a disaster. Click here to learn more.