Protecting Children from Social Media Trafficking

1 NAME Central Piedmont Community College Stephanie Prysiazniuk ENG 111 July 10, 2023 An essay on research for an issue that is still happening The Need To Protect Children From Traffickers On Social Media America has a societal issue with not just racism and the LGBTQ+ community, but also problems with child sex trafficking. Some people may not realize that sex trafficking is one of the leading humanitarian issues concerning all of society due to social media. Articles and online resources, such as the Washington Post, serve as misinformation, preventing people from realizing that this issue is worsening. Social media users need to understand how to prevent the spread of this issue to build awareness before it escalates. People using social media can help by posting facts, educating users, and placing restrictions on social media usage. When it comes to posting facts, it is important that as a society, people spread awareness and factual information that can help protect children from child sex traffickers. For example, people can organize a fundraiser and go to school districts to see if they can talk about this issue and report a suspected case of child sex trafficking or respond to a potential victim (“20 Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking - United States Department of State.”). One example of misinformation about this issue is the movie called Sound of Freedom. This movie is based on Tim Ballard, a special agent who encountered obstacles while operating 2 at his job in Colombia due to Colombia being a foreign territory, ultimately leading him to resign from his position and track down a missing child kidnapped by sex traffickers. He also saved numerous children from sex traffickers in Colombia, as depicted in the film (“What Happened to Tim Ballard after Sound of Freedom”). Even though Colombia is not part of the U.S., the people who are involved with trafficking children could be foreign nationals or U.S. citizens (“Human Trafficking | What Is Human Trafficking?”). The “Sound of Freedom” has done well communicating with society on child sex trafficking, however, there is much controversy about this movie and how it was delayed from 2018 to 2023 due to the Walt Disney Company wanting to get rid of it. Afterward, the filmmakers repurchased the rights to Sound of Freedom and finished the movie through Angel Studios (“Miller”). It received criticism after its release. For instance, two quotes from the Washington Post article state the following, “QAnon and Sound of Freedom both rely on Tired Hollywood Tropes,” (Berlatsky). Additionally, the article states, “Although the movie is billed as being based on a true story, reporting suggests that Ballard frequently makes exaggerated claims and oversells his contrions” (Berlatsky). The article further states, “A great deal of fiction is based on a true story. Anyone who thinks a film that proclaims itself as based on a true story must somehow be rooted in reality hasn't the foggiest understanding of art (“QAnon and “Sound of Freedom” Both Rely on Tired Hollywood Tropes.”).” This shows the lack of knowledge in the article on this topic and how they do not care about the issues of child sex trafficking in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. are facing every day. This article demonstrates why it is for the public to be aware of child sex trafficking and the importance of educating others on this issue. There are more than 365,000 missing children in the U.S. each year. 109,000 of those children that are missing are being trafficked (“Saved in America — Missing Children 3 Statistics”). Furthermore, an estimated number of children, seventeen years and under-represent 26% of 5.5 million children who are victims of trafficking worldwide. When it comes to sociel media, studies show that 66 minors were sexually trafficked by traffickers who they thought were a friend or someone to trust in the US which in most cases, met through social media (“Puigvert”). No country is immune to this crime, as it goes through borders and affects both developed nations. However, it is crucial to recognize that child sex trafficking is not limited to a specific region or culture but a universal problem that demands immediate attention (“Commercial Sexual Exploitation”). Greater awareness of this issue is why it is important to know how to protect children from traffickers kidnapping children from families. With the use of social media, children must be constantly monitored to ensure that no dangerous images or messages are received by adults with inappropriate intentions for children. This issue of child sex trafficking is getting increasingly challenging with the advent of mobile phones with an Internet connection since more and more young children are now online with social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. The one method to ensure that CSEC and trafficking do not occur is to prevent them from occurring in the first place by reasonable rules and set time and use limits and enforce and educate yourself and your child about the dangers of social media (“Commercial Sexual Exploitation”). Another way of protecting children from child sex trafficking on social media is through storytelling. Sharing stories of survivors who went through child sex trafficking can be a powerful way to raise awareness. It can help people who do not have much knowledge of child sex trafficking to understand the realities and consequences of child sex trafficking. Even if it does not have much of an impact on society or does not affect that much with people who are not knowledgeable about this issue, think about the children and the trauma that 4 they are facing from being trafficked. Children go through signs of anxiety, emotional numbness, memory loss, and depression. They can have long-lasting physical and psychological trauma, sexually transmitted infections, substance use disorders, unplanned pregnancy, and mental health problems like depression. They can also be easily targeted by traffickers who want to groom children or sell them to other traffickers. They can have them and take them from people's homes, malls, sporting events, and parties (“Child Sex Trafficking | Safe Supportive Learning”). In order to protect children from child sex trafficking, it is important to know the signs of someone who has inappropriate intentions toward children. If there is a child who is developing a relationship that seems too close with someone they know solely on social media, an adult is touching a child inappropriately in a restaurant or in any other public place that someone is in, or recruiting for an opportunity that requires them to move far away, but their recruiter or prospective employer avoids answering their parent’s questions or is reluctant to provide detailed information about the job (“Recognizing The Signs” ). These are major signs of a child who is being trafficked or about to be trafficked and in order to stop it from happening, people need to either report it to the police or record the adult with the child that is being trafficked and take it to the police for them to take further action. These two solutions can help the child from being trafficked and make sure that they are safe in the hands of a professional. Even if someone cannot take action for themselves, reporting the issue and providing evidence is enough for the child to be saved. In conclusion, while social media has numerous benefits for communication with people far away, it can also be dangerous and cause children to be targeted by traffickers. If people do not educate themselves, then society would fail as a whole to not be able to acknowledge the issue and protect the children. It is important that we protect the children from traffickers that can 5 cause the children to form trauma in their bodies and in their mental health. These kids could be someone’s daughter or son that would not be seen again because not a lot of people know about this issue. 6 Work Cited Berlatsky, Noah. “QAnon and “Sound of Freedom” Both Rely on Tired Hollywood Tropes.” Washington Post, The Washington Post, 15 July 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/07/15/qanon-and-sound-of-freedom-both-rely-o n-tired-hollywood-tropes/c0b861ee-230a-11ee-8994-4b2d0b694a34_story.html. Accessed 18 July 2023. Commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children “in a nutshell”. Available at: https://papyrus.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-suva/document s/publication/wcms_494314.pdf (Accessed: 25 July 2023). “Child Sex Trafficking | Safe Supportive Learning.” Safesupportivelearning.ed.gov, safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/human-trafficking-americas-schools/child-sex-trafficking# :~:text=Sex%20trafficking%20can%20have%20devastating. “Human Trafficking | What Is Human Trafficking?” Www.justice.gov, 6 Oct. 2015, www.justice.gov/humantrafficking/what-is-human-trafficking#:~:text=the%20United%20 States.-. Miller, M. N. “Why Was Sound of Freedom Delayed? Explained.” Ready Steady Cut, 18 July 2023, 7 readysteadycut.com/2023/07/18/why-was-sound-of-freedom-delayed/#:~:text=In%20one %20account%2C%20Jim%20Caviezel. Accessed 18 July 2023. Puigvert, L., Duque, E., Merodio, G., & Melgar, P. (2022). A systematic review of family and social relationships: Implications for sex trafficking recruitment and victimisation. Families, Relationships and Societies, 11(4), 534-534–550. doi:https://doi.org/10.1332/204674321X16358719475186 Recognizing the signs (no date) National Human Trafficking Hotline. Available at: https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/human-trafficking/recognizing-signs (Accessed: 27 July 2023). “Saved in America — Missing Children Statistics.” Saved in America, www.savedinamerica.org/stats#:~:text=There%20are%20more%20than%20365%2C000. “What Happened to Tim Ballard after Sound of Freedom.” ScreenRant, 13 July 2023, screenrant.com/sound-of-freedom-tim-ballard-what-happened-after/. Accessed 20 July 2023. “20 Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking - United States Department of State.” United States Department of State, 11 Jan. 2021, www.state.gov/20-ways-you-can-help-fight-human-trafficking/#:~:text=Organize%20a% 20fundraiser%20and%20donate. ‌ 8