Classified Ads Escalates Human Trafficking

Classifieds ads in the newspaper are a popular way to advertise for help wanted ads or items that you wanted to sell. The classified ads now have spread to the internet in another way. Now users can post information about what they would like to sell or offer services to people online. Popular classified ads websites include Craigslist and Backpage that allow human trafficking and prostitution to be offered on their sites. Craigslist “adult services” section on their site permits users to post ads offering to meet each other for sexual intercourse. More specifically, a human trafficking victim can be sold for sex a lot quicker and can go unnoticed by the police. Little children from all ages and women are being sold into human trafficking. Victims are held against their own will and technology and sites allow it to happen. Human trafficking victims are being forced to offer sex to make predators more money by using Craigslist and Backpage. The predators charge people who response to the adult services ads, but they fail to pay the victims any money for their part in the “services”. The predators continue to post the adult services ads on the sites over and over again. They are not going to stop selling human trafficking victims for sex, unless we put tougher internet laws into place. Another example is prostitution has become an easier way to make money by using the new technology out there. Prostitutes don’t have to secretly hide in the dark alleys to offer prostitution to people anymore. They can use Craigslist and post an ad to make money by selling their bodies. Classified ads like Craigslist and Backpage refuse to take down the adult services ads. With technology changing rapidly, no one knows how to handle the increasing sites or how to monitor everything on the internet. There are no government amendments on how to handle the increasing internet problems.