Under the category, “don’t believe everything you hear,” the answer to the salacious conspiracy theory about Wayfair selling children is that the FBI tells us NO, there is no evidence that Wayfair is engaged in the buying and selling of children for sex.
The good thing about wild conspiracy theories is that they capture the attention of people who might not otherwise pay attention to the heinous crime of human trafficking, specifically the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The bad thing about wild conspiracy theories is that they distract attention from real threats to contrived sensational scenarios. While everyone is talking about young girls being sold online in cabinets, the actual trafficking happens unnoticed because it doesn’t look like what the sensational headlines lead people to believe.
Even worse, when law enforcement uses precious time and resources investigating myth-based theories, they’re unable to investigate, arrest, and prosecute the real traffickers.
You’re reading this article, so you are a person who cares about trafficking victims before, during, and after the bursts of interest of the general public as a result of headline or rumor. We are the people who truly care about the buying and selling of people for labor or sex do, so when we learn what to do, we are in a position to influence others for good. Here’s how to do that.
We simply make a decision NOT to be a part of misinformation. We avoid engaging in the sharing of unproven or blatantly inaccurate information about something that provokes public interest and excitement. One example of this kind of thing is the sharing of images of human trafficking victims locked inside cages. The reason that this kind of thing is so harmful is that the overwhelming majority of human trafficking victims aren’t locked in cages. If that’s how the general public thinks HT happens, that’s what they’ll be looking for rather than looking for the actual signs of trafficking that could be happening right in front of them.
We all think that we’re doing the right thing by passing along information that can help rescue someone from the slavery of being trafficked, but what we can actually be doing when we share something that is untrue is mislead people and risk wasting the time of law enforcement tasked to investigate it. The thing to do is to take the extra few minutes to vet information with the experts before sharing it.
There are effective ways to support the anti-trafficking movement in a thoughtful, safe, ethical, and responsible manner. Here are some reliable resources to help you build your knowledge and continually remain up-to-date:
Subscribe, listen, and share the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast by Dr. Sandie Morgan, co-author of this column at https://endinghumantrafficking.org/podcast/. This library of podcasts can be searched by keyword to research specific issues. Start with this episode about finding the truth about human trafficking: https://endinghumantrafficking.org/podcast/232-social-media-and-finding-the-truth-about-human-trafficking/
Read this article, entitled Hashtag Activism, Conspiracy Theories, and The Truth About Human Trafficking: https://www.gcwj.org/hashtag-activism-conspiracy-theories-and-the-truth-about-human-trafficking/
To decipher human trafficking facts versus fiction, visit Polaris Project at polarisproject.org/myths-facts-and-statistics/.
For a guide on online sexual exploitation, visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at missingkids.org/theissues/trafficking.
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