How Facebook and Instagram became marketplaces for child sex-traffickers

Tech giants are struggling to prevent criminals from abusing their platforms to buy and sell children for sex, according to a two-year investigation by the Guardian. The investigation, which examined interviews, survivor testimonies, court documents and human trafficking evidence, found that Facebook and Instagram have become powerful selling platforms for child trafficking.

Meta admits traffickers use its platforms but insists it does all it can to stop them. By law, the company must report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) any images of child sexual abuse shared on its platforms.

However, unlike child sexual abuse images, there is no legal requirement to report child sex trafficking. As a result, NCMEC must rely on all social media companies to proactively seek out and report child sex trafficking. This legal inconsistency – the fact that child sexual abuse images must be registered, but there is no legal requirement to report child sex trafficking – is a significant problem, according to Staca Shehan, Vice President of the Analytical Services Division at NCMEC.