Social media platforms have become central tools in child sex trafficking cases across the United States. Predators exploit direct messages, friend connections, weak age verification systems, and increasingly, artificial intelligence and deepfake technology to access and manipulate minors.

Advocates at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation say this exploitation continues largely because US law shields Big Tech companies from liability. For 30 years, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has protected platforms from being held legally responsible for user-generated content—even in cases involving child sex trafficking and abuse. Critics argue the law must be updated to ensure companies have a clear duty to prevent harm.

Profiting from exploitation

One young woman was trafficked for a year by a stranger she met on Instagram. He was later convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Instagram, however, was not held accountable due to Section 230 protections.

In another case, a 15-year-old girl connected with someone on Facebook who had mutual friends. He used Messenger to groom her before trafficking, raping, and abusing her. Again, the platform faced no liability.

On Snapchat, a 13-year-old boy was extorted into sending sexual images. When he was 16, those images began circulating widely on Twitter (now X). He reported them, but the platform refused to remove them. An opinion piece in the Hill states:

The boy reported the images and sex trafficking to Twitter. Twitter responded by telling him that it had reviewed the images but would not remove them, and they continued to circulate while Twitter profited.

A former head of safety at Instagram testified that Meta allowed accounts accused of sex trafficking to receive up to 17 strikes before removal. The New Mexico Attorney General found that Snapchat ignored reports of sextortion and failed to implement meaningful age verification, even while acknowledging that its features connected minors with adults

Tell me more