Blythe Nebeker

In 2016, a 16-year-old in Houston was lured into sex trafficking through Snapchat. She was “groomed via Snapchat” by her alleged captor, according to what her father told a Houston television station. The teenager then met the man at a party. The next day, she went missing. After months of searching, her father tracked down the alleged captor and saved his daughter. The alleged captor pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution of a minor.

Sex trafficking is not only present in big cities like Houston. Recent sex trafficking investigations have led to arrests and the shutdown of a brothel in Columbia, Missouri. Brothels are often the end of the sex trafficking pipeline. But traffickers have to supply those brothels, massage parlors and escort services. With the world becoming increasingly digital, traffickers are using digital methods to find their next mark. 

For instance, a 2015 case found a New York man, Edward Thomas, guilty of sex trafficking minors through social media. Prosecutors presented Facebook messages between Thomas and victims where he asked when they would be joining him in New York to be his “bottom” - a slang word for a pimp’s “right hand woman,” according to an article in the New Haven Register. Instagram, Facebook and text messaging were all reportedly ways the trafficker used to recruit and advertise victims for sex work. 

Nanette Ward, chair of the Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition, says that social media has played a large part in the increase of sex trafficking exploitation in the U.S. 

“We have normalized our engagement on social media to such a degree that people's guards are way, way down,” said Ward. 

Although individual cases of cybersex trafficking differ, what remains consistent is how traffickers take advantage of using social media to lure in their victims. 

Prior to the internet and social media, traffickers had more limited means of finding and recruiting victims. Traffickers would mostly target runaways and homeless youth. They would lurk around playgrounds and other public places to find someone vulnerable enough to fall into their trap, Ward said. 

However, social media allows direct entry points for traffickers to target victims anonymously from behind a screen. 

“Social media creates a forum for them to do that,” said Sandy Sieben of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo. “It's like ‘Here, here's a book about me. Read all about me, learn everything you want to know.’” 

Traffickers do not necessarily have a single type of victim but some demographics are more susceptible to becoming a victim, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Runaways and homeless youth, foreign nationals and those who have experienced physical or emotional abuse have all been historically targeted by sex traffickers. 

However, Ward notes that social media has also paved the way for more diversification of sex trafficking victims. She emphasizes that anyone can be targeted. 

“Now, because you have social media access by all socioeconomic groups, you have people who may not normally be at risk,” Ward said. 

Seven in 10 Americans use some form of social media, according to the Pew Research Center. Ditching all forms of social media, however, may be out of the question for some. Sieben has suggestions for lowering the chances of becoming a victim of cybersex trafficking. 

“Make sure that your privacy settings are at the highest level of security. Never communicate, share photos or personal information with anybody on social media, even if they say, ‘Oh, I’m your friend.’” 

If you suspect that you or someone you may know is being targeted by a potential sex trafficker, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.