January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Rather than discussing the sobering facts about trafficking to bring awareness, we would like to bring attention to the forces behind trafficking that are driving the demand for exploitation. It is no secret that the digital world has opened countless doors for exploitation to thrive. Online platforms have enabled easy access for traffickers to vulnerable individuals, created new ways to exploit individuals online, and caused the commercial sex trade to grow astronomically.

Social media platforms have granted traffickers easy access to virtually anyone in the world. Trafficking recruiters target vulnerable individuals by offering job security, a better life, or a romantic relationship (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2020). Social media makes it easy for traffickers to target these vulnerable individuals because they often post content about their financial struggles, loneliness, or family issues. Once traffickers contact these individuals and establish a false trusting relationship, they encourage their victims to meet and force them into sex work or labor.

Pornography and OnlyFans. These two online outlets for exploitation are feeding the sex trade industry. Pornography is nothing new, but the abundant, easy access to it is. The online porn industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry that a mass majority of our population supports by viewing content (CovenantEyes, 2025). The reported statistics are that 78% of men and 44% of women watch pornography. Additionally, 73% of teens have watched pornography, with the age of 12 being the average age of exposure. These percentages only continue to rise. Pornography is no small issue; it is a pandemic that is destroying the way we view sex, intimacy, ourselves, and others. Traffickers often force their victims to create pornographic content to produce more revenue, furthering their exploitation. Additionally, extreme porn viewers eventually no longer find satisfaction from watching online content and instead want to experience what they have seen on screen, resulting in them buying victims for sex. This cycle increases demand for more pornographic content to be created and increases the demand of sex buyers who purchase vulnerable individuals for their own gratification.

OnlyFans was created in 2016 as a social media platform that allowed content creators to earn money from their fans (Maddie, 2023). However, this platform quickly evolved into a space for monetizing sex content. The platform is marketed as an empowering way to make millions, yet the average creator only 

makes $150-$180 monthly (Supercreator, 2025). While the top few do make millions, they are exploited by hundreds of thousands of men who only view them as objects for their sexual pleasure. In an interview, Nala Ray, a former OnlyFans creator, said that as a creator, you are “a pimped out puppet and your pimps are your subscribers” (Lecrae, 2024). The OnlyFans creator is not being trafficked by one pimp, but by all her subscribers who can ask her to create whatever content they want to see. OnlyFans is a social media platform for trafficking, and its popularity is sickening. OnlyFans boasts over 305 million users worldwide and approximately one billion monthly website visits. While we are deeply disturbed, traffickers celebrate another way of exploiting victims. Traffickers often force their victims to produce OnlyFans content and retain all the profits for themselves. This strips victims of their autonomy and sense of worth, which is in direct contrast to the prosperity and autonomy promised by the platform. As long as platforms for exploitation such as OnlyFans exist, the sex trade industry will continue to thrive, and trafficking victims will multiply.

Pornography and OnlyFans are not the only online platforms that are feeding the sex trade industry. Online predators can target the vulnerable on any platform where they can send messages. This includes but is not limited to Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, dating apps, video games, etc. Leaving a child alone on their device is akin to leaving them alone in a dangerous city. There is no way to know for sure what they are doing on their device and who is contacting them. Parents, we urge you to be aware of these dangers and to exercise caution in the access you give your children to the internet. What may seem to be an easy form of distraction may be opening the door to explicit online content and predators.

This National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, let us see what is driving the sex trade industry. No matter how many times you chop off the top of a weed, it will grow back if the roots remain. Pornography and OnlyFans have become increasingly stronger roots that keep the trafficking in business. Awareness is a good start, but we must begin to work on removing these roots so that change can take place. Demand for the sex trade must be reduced. We must stop feeding into pornography and OnlyFans, which only drives the demand higher and higher. We can do this by fighting against pornography addiction through accountability and support groups, such as Dropping the Stones, educating our communities about the dangers of pornography and platforms such as OnlyFans, and by not being afraid to talk about the reality that trafficking is everywhere, in our communities and on our devices. May we use our devices with caution and educate ourselves and our children about the threats an online presence presents.