Litigation
Cal. Litig. VOLUME 38, ISSUE 1, MAY 2025
Content
- Ai In Criminal Cases In 2025: Use of Facial Recognition Technology
- Caci 1805: a Comedy of Errors
- California Gun Violence Restraining Order Blueprint
- Chair's Column
- Editor's Foreword: a Supra-eme Farewell
- How To Improve (And Not Blow!) Your Chances For Obtaining Appellate Writ Relief
- Inside This Issue
- Interview With Magistrate Judge Michelle M. Pettit
- Motions In Limine: the Right To a Fair Trial
- PAST SECTION CHAIRS & EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
- Psych Records In Emotional Distress Cases: Where We Went Wrong and How To Fix It
- SECTION OFFICERS & EDITORIAL BOARD
- Settlement Conferences V. Mediations: a Distinction Without a Purpose?
- Success In Trial: the Work After the Courtroom Closes
- Table of Contents
- Litigating Sex Trafficking Cases Involving Online Platforms: Strategies and Considerations For Advocacy On Behalf of Survivors
LITIGATING SEX TRAFFICKING CASES INVOLVING ONLINE PLATFORMS: STRATEGIES AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR ADVOCACY ON BEHALF OF SURVIVORS
Written by Micha Star Liberty
I. INTRODUCTION
The advent of the internet has revolutionized many industries and aspects of society, including the global market for human trafficking. Online platforms such as social media, classified ad websites, and video-sharing platforms have become virtual hubs where traffickers can recruit, advertise, and exploit their victims. The anonymity, global reach, and rapid communication capabilities offered by the internet have allowed human traffickers to operate with a level of impunity that was previously unimaginable.
Estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO) reveal that approximately 27.6 million people are victims of forced labor worldwide. A large proportion of these victims are trafficked through online platforms, where traffickers advertise victims for sexual services or exploit their images in the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). (ILO, Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM), Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage, Geneva, 2022.)