Understanding Trafficking in Adult Entertainment
Human trafficking is the second-largest and fastest-growing criminal industry.
Sex trafficking, the most common form, disproportionately impacts children.
The average age of entry into prostitution and pornography is between 12 to 14 years old.
Sixty-three percent of U.S. sex trafficking survivors were advertised online during their trafficking situation.
This article aims to increase understanding of trafficking in the online adult entertainment industry, provide a comprehensive overview of human trafficking and related crimes, identify how traffickers exploit adult content platforms, and offer victim protection strategies.
Learn how abusers misuse the adult film industry and how platforms can take action.
Understanding Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking involves exploitation through force, fraud, or coercion for financial gain. [1]
Traffickers must have some control over their victims, which they often gain through threats or traumatic bonding.
Consent is legally irrelevant if force, fraud, or coercion is involved in establishing a sexual relationship.
U.S. law considers any commercial sex act involving a minor trafficking.
Trafficking-Related Exploitation in Adult Films
The adult film industry is conducive to trafficking.
Forced exploitation and consensual adult work often intersect, making detection and intervention challenging.
Child trafficking videos can sneak onto adult film platforms, usually disguised as presenting an older performer.
Often, child abusers prefer live-streamed content since they can stream to a select audience and then delete the evidence. [2]
Abusers may use legal adult sites as tools to find trafficking victims who they contact off-platform.
How to Spot Trafficking on Live Streams
Adult site moderation teams must have training to recognize live-streamed trafficking indicators.
Since abusers may delete these streams once they finish, a fast response is necessary to gather evidence.
Potential warning signs include:
● High frequency of content with little variation
● Extreme control over creators’ behavior by third parties
● Suspicious viewer-performer interactions
● Manipulation through gifts or payments
● Sexualized interactions with minors
● Performers displaying distress, addiction, or fear
After spotting an abuse indicator, moderators must be able to contact the suspected victim for more details or, in extreme cases, access the potential abuser’s messages.
Allowing users to send encrypted messages is not recommended.
How to Spot Human Trafficking Victims
A person may be a human trafficking victim if they show signs of limited personal autonomy, such as not wanting to commit to basic requests without consulting a handler.
Visual indicators might include tattoos used as branding or signs of physical abuse, like cuts, burns, and bruises.
Audience members may frequently request to move conversations off-platform, where the site’s content moderation no longer applies.
How to Spot Creators at Risk of Exploitation
When searching for creators who may be exploitation victims, search for several factors:
● Financial hardship
● Emotional vulnerability
● External pressures from controlling partners or traffickers
● New or emerging creators unaware of their rights
● Lack of strong support systems
Any of these factors can increase the chances of traffickers approaching a creator and successfully manipulating them.
How to Spot Child Sex Trafficking
A sexual creator may be a child if they look younger than their listed age, especially if the filmmakers have made significant efforts to age the creator’s appearance.
Such cases may appear on videos that mention the creator’s youth with terms like “barely legal.”
Why Youths Are at Greater Risk for Exploitation
Youths are vulnerable to exploitation due to financial, intellectual, and emotional limitations. [3]
Minors typically lack independent financial stability, sometimes forcing them to seek sexual employment where they lack relevant experience.
Youths’ underdeveloped prefrontal cortex limits their decision-making, often resulting in poor long-term planning.
Combined lack of experience and weak brain development create emotional instability that makes minors susceptible to manipulation.
Recommendations
Adult film companies can reduce liability risk by ensuring their platforms do not contribute to exploitation.
By avoiding hosting or advertising exploitative content, these companies can prevent child abuse.
Companies should cooperate with state efforts to investigate trafficking on their platforms.
Additionally, strict internal guidelines keep creators safe.
Here are some examples:
● Mandate robust consent processes requiring regular identity verification
● Enhance detection strategies
● Foster a culture of safety, prioritizing the protection of minors and performers
● Promote transparency and create an environment that encourages reporting
Consistent application of these recommendations can significantly lower trafficking incidents on adult film platforms.
What is Human Trafficking Front Doing?
At Human Trafficking Front (HTF), we are dedicated to combating human trafficking, including the exploitation of children, within the online adult entertainment industry and beyond.
Through the following actions, we aim to reduce trafficking incidents, protect vulnerable individuals, and create safer online environments by collaborating with industry leaders and relevant stakeholders.
Here's how we are making a difference:
Raising Awareness: HTF educates industry professionals, policymakers, and the public on the evolving tactics traffickers use, ensuring everyone understands the risks and signs of exploitation.
Training Moderators and Trust and Safety Teams: We provide specialized training for content moderation, legal and regulatory, compliance, risk management, and user support teams and adult film platforms, equipping them with the skills to identify red flags, such as indicators of trafficking in live-streamed content or exploitative behaviors targeting creators.
Advocating for Stronger Policies: HTF advocates for stronger measures to prevent and address exploitative content and behaviors on platforms, working toward solutions grounded in a human rights approach.
Developing Resources and Guidelines: HTF creates and disseminates research-based resources and materials that promote a holistic response to trafficking and child protection online, enhancing detection and implementing robust strategies to combat trafficking.
Be the change that protects children and fights trafficking. Donate Today!
Key Takeaways
1. Sex trafficking is a common crime that routinely targets minors.
2. Any commercial sex act involving a minor is trafficking.
3. Abusers frequently use adult film sites to feature trafficked minors.
4. Moderation teams must have tools to detect and address potential trafficking.
Act Now. For more tools and information, check out our Resources page.
Additional Details
This best practices prevention guide and publication is part of the Human Trafficking Front's program: Putting an End to the Online Sexual Exploitation of Children: Preventing Victimization and Strengthening Child Protection Systems.
Recommended Citation
Human Trafficking Front. (2024, November 26). Understanding Trafficking in Adult Entertainment. https://humantraffickingfront.org//trafficking-in-adult-entertainment/
References
[1] United States Code. Title 18, § 1591. Sex Trafficking of Children or by Force, Fraud, or Coercion.
[2] For a deeper understanding of the topic, consider reading Uitts, Beatriz Susana, Sex Trafficking of Children Online: Modern Slavery in Cyberspace, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).
[3] Uitts, Beatriz Susana. Trata de Menores con Fines de Explotación Sexual en el Ciberespacio (DÚO). Spanish edition. Publisher, April 15, 2024.
