Public Awareness Campaigns Through Social Media Essay

The adult services ads on the internet offer an accessible means for the commercial sexual exploitation of children, but the truth is that the demand for sex with underage girls precedes the technology. Closing down such avenues may temporarily interfere with business, yet the industry of selling children for sex continues as long as there are buyers. (Axtell, pg.2) According to the U.S. Department of Justice, human trafficking is the second fastest growing criminal industry- just behind drug trafficking. Approximately half of all victims are children. (Axtell, par.2) The buyers have it made so easy when they can just go online and purchase their girl of choice. The internet has black market pages for buying humans, but most are only open for a certain number of hours then deleted completely. Websites such as Backpage and Craigslist are monitored but not all are captured. Backpage accounts for about 70 percent of America’s prostitution ads (many placed by consenting adults who are not trafficked), according to the AIM Group, a trade organization. Backpage cooperates with police to screen out ads for underage girls. (Times, par. 9) With all of these portals being available it makes capturing some of the sick people out there buying their own kind close to impossible. Craigslist used to have an erotic section but it was removed from the page after the infamous “craigslist killer” case. However, there is a personal section

Social media has been a topic of debate for years. Some people are strongly against any use of it while others like the instant connection it provides. A major concern over social media is the lasting effects it has on teenagers. Social media can affect teenagers through many ways including things like their self-esteem. Cyberbullying is a raging topic of discussion centered around teens social media use. It can also effect their people skills and create a lack of community involvement. Some parents think that watching what their children do on social media is an invasion of privacy but is your concern for their privacy greater than your concern for their safety? Social media poses a great danger to today’s children. It can affect many aspects of their lives.

Traffickers and pimps are looking for vulnerable, “at risk” young girls to come join the black market of sex trafficking. Whether this means the girls are in a foster care system, a group home, an already abusive home situation, or simply living in a family below the poverty line and struggling to make ends meet. These types of victims are easy to convince that a life of prostitution which seemingly offers protection and opportunities is what they deserve. Before the widespread use of the internet, traffickers had to send out pimps to “scope out” their potential victims, gather information, and determine whether or not they fit the criteria of the black market. But with the rise of the technological era and easily accessible personal info, traffickers simply require their pimps to scour online profiles, find vulnerable targets, and send out a message or set up an online ad that appeals to their

Sex trafficking is becoming more of a problem as time moves on. Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion [Internet Safety 101]. Sex trafficking is increasing due to the evolution of modern day social services and sources. From safety sources, it is the second fastest growing criminal industry, [Internet Safety 101]. Increasingly, sex trafficking is coming about due to the evolution of the internet and the improved ability of GPS tracking. On social media, many people find other people and try to be their friend, even if they don't know who they are. This provides opportunities for fake people to create more of a problem. The internet is providing different advertising places that can increase the effect of sex trafficking and lure in citizens to becoming victims. Sex trafficking has to come to an end for the safety of citizens, for the safety of their pride and dignity.

Mendel and Sharapov (2014, p. 12 – 14) demonstrate this point by pointing out that social media platforms such as Facebook are favorite platforms for traffickers to identify potential victims. Traffickers use social media to identify individuals who are emotionally or psychologically vulnerable to coercion. Social media also exposes individuals whose low socioeconomic status provides the traffickers with a suitable avenue to lure and entice them (Mendel & Sharapov 2014, p. 14). Social media avail traffickers with a suitable platform for befriending and grooming potential victims for extended periods without arousing any suspicion regarding their true intentions (Sarkar 2015 58 –

Ever since I was little and did not know how to do basic things like walk, talk or solve an algebraic equation. Naturally I would get discouraged and would not try to do it again. However, my parents effortlessly raised me, had encourage me to keep going. That I would get what I wanted if I put my heart into it. I’m not spoiled like Simon sinek would say we were raised with bad parenting skills.; my parents did not argue with my teachers over a stupid grade or to force me intro honors class room.

Human Trafficking is the illegal movement of people, typically for the purpose of forced labor or commercial sexual abuse. Traffickers use violence, threats, deception, debt bondage, and other manipulative tactics to force people into this business (Polaris, 2016). It is worldwide, ran and participated in by many, and brings in approximately $150 billion and involves 161 countries, annually (Polaris, 2016). Kids and teenagers are obsessed with phones and other electronics, but do they really know who they are talking and giving personal information to?

Cyberbullying is the biggest cyber crime among all ages, that said it’s because the bullies use social media for to hide their true identity behind a screen. Cyberbullying on social media is everywhere, but on facebook 84.2% was reported, along with instagram reporting with a 23.4%, where 35% of the cyberbullying was in the form of sending mean messages and threats through instant messaging(“Cyberbullying…”). In which cyberbullying has led to find that 20% of respondents reported seriously think of attempting suicide, where as though those who are victims of cyberbullying that reported were twice as likely to attempt suicide compared to the youth that has not experienced cyberbullying (Hinduja). Among with cyberbullying victims are sex trafficking victims. Most sex trafficking victims are gullible children found online, where most of them are advertised and sold online, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee report in 2017. The National Center for Missing Children and Exploited Children has said that more than 70% of the reports received are of those trafficked children. Though all children and adults are still at a risk of getting involved in the unending string of sex trafficking victims(Wulfhorst). Therefore meeting new people on platforms like social media come with many dangers that many don’t pay

”The internet has come so far in the last several years. It is so easy to go online and pretend to be someone you aren’t; and that’s exactly what traffickers do. Some go through Facebook, Myspace, Craigslist, and many more websites. There are over 100,000 ads posted in the United States each day (Our). 70 percent of all underaged sex trafficking victims said they were sold and/or advertised online with a picture, description, and price (Our). The United States is the number one producer of child pornography in the world (Our). The problem is, with today's technology, it’s hard to put a stop to it. These sites are highly secured, but there are still ways to get around it. With the internet, traffickers have the ability to target a much greater amount of victims.

As I began to review the article, I began to reflect on other ways technology can potentially prevent human trafficking. The first method, which came to my mind, was by using snap chat. Snap chat uses a facial recognition program to place filters on our faces when snapping friends and family. However, I’m now wondering why can’t this facial recognition on snap chat then should be used to search for the faces of human traffickers. Majority of individuals throughout the world use the app. Thus, the potential of finding suspected human traffickers might be greatly increased. Muraszkiewicz article caused me to desire to research more information regarding the topic. I discovered on “gozoe.org”, an estimated 20.9 million people at any given time are victims of human trafficking; furthermore, 55% of those victims being women and 26% being children. In the United States alone, “an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 are trafficked” (gozoe.org). With such exponential statistics, it’s utterly unacceptable more action has not been conducted towards solving this detrimental social issue. Withal, these statistics also prove using apps is worth the attempt even if it will only assist the cause in the slightest way, because some relief is vastly greater than none at

A common danger correlating with social media are sexual predators. In the growing years, accessing social media to kidnap teenagers has increased. Alicia Kozlowski was just 14 when she was abducted by a sexual predator. The aggressor had approached Alicia through AIM, a popular social media messaging site in the early 2000’s, and encouraged her to meet him at an abandoned spot. Unfortunately, cases like

Checking the news, keeping up with friends, and sharing quips of witty posts of a hundred and forty characters or less are the normal things for anybody to do while using a social media network. With ages ranging from the very young to the old, therein lies an assimilation of individuals whose information, location, and almost anything else are within their profile, just far enough away to keep the average stalker at bay, but close enough for a person with immoral intents to reach out and simply snatch. As the article, “Social Networking” observes, “…as Internet socializing grows, so do fears that the practice exposes the vulnerable – especially young people – to sexual predators” (627). Sexual predators are not the only people prowling around the Internet, for the range of criminals run the gamut, from potential murderers to vicious kidnappers, with their greatest weapon being something nearly everyone has access to in this modern era. Thus, through social media platforms, alone, these websites contain the information of millions upon millions of unique individuals, where, sometimes, it is as simple as scrolling down to select someone to hack into next. Often enough, these Internet forums are places where even a high school kid can do some damage, but not in the form of using personal information for selfish

With the development of social networking sites, chat rooms, and other web based communication sites, cyber-sex trafficking has hit record highs. According to “What is Sex trafficking” (2015), sex trafficking occurs when a person uses force, fraud, or coercion for a commercial sex act with either an adult or a child (“What is Sex Trafficking,” 2015). Sex trafficking is not only limited to women and girls, this heinous crime also affects males and young boys. Sex trafficking is a vicious cycle that incorporates the trafficker, the victim, and the buyer. The victim is the adult or child being brought into the sex trafficking ring. The trafficker lures the victim in often by promises of a better life and the buyer is the criminal who purchases

Another strategy to stop human trafficking is to increase awareness to the public especially to women who are more susceptible to fall prey to human traffickers. It is incredibly important to promote awareness to potential victims before they unknowingly get involved. There are many ways to spread awareness especially in this world of technology. Awareness can be spread through videos on YouTube, community groups on Facebook, status updates on Twitter and e-mails. Traditional ways include hanging up posters and banners, advertising through televisions and radios, campaigns, and so on. To further capture the attention of the civic, A-list celebrities can also get involved in increasing awareness on human trafficking. It is absolutely necessary to educate ourselves on this global problem in order to fight against it. Experts on human trafficking can release tips and guidelines to the public to prevent them from being fooled by the traffickers. With the right amount of knowledge and awareness, it is possible to combat human trafficking.

Despite the fact that we’re already in the 21st century, society continues to show signs of progress and development strongly leaning towards the direction of advancement, constantly evolving. This pattern is no different from the world of advertising, as it has also evolved through the years and quite recently an unexpected technological innovation took the world by storm. It made such a tremendous impact that eventually led to the transformation of traditional marketing, and it’s no other than social media that we all learned to love.