Lesley Manley discusses online sexual exploitation in New Law Journal
Lesley Manley discusses recent calls by MPs to tackle the online advertising of prostitution, and explores how education and prevention can be used to prosecute criminals and safeguard victims of sexual abuse.
The UK government has pledged to reduce violence against women and girls by half within a decade. Meeting this ambitious target will involve targeting those key areas where women most often face violence. New laws to tackle the online advertising of prostitution have now been mooted, but the government will need to ensure that they are enforceable, effective and that they avoid any unintended consequences.
During a recent House of Commons debate on the Crime and Policing Bill, Conservative MP Rebecca Paul spoke of the horrors of young people being, “treated as merchandise with the sole purpose of turning a profit for pimps and traffickers” and the need to break this business model. Ms Paul described the websites hosting such content as, “the Etsy of sexual exploitation, fuelling sex trafficking by providing a convenient, centralised platform for sex buyers to access what they want in their local area.” Ms Paul suggested MPs would be “staggered to hear that such advertising of prostitution is entirely legal … because legislation has not kept pace with technology.”
It is undeniable that this vile trade has grown markedly in recent years as criminals, traffickers and pimps adopted various online platforms to advertise more widely. Ministers now believe that adult websites have now become the “most significant enabler” of trafficking for sexual exploitation. As the Labour MP Tracy Gilbert has said, it is “as easy to order a woman to exploit as it is to order a takeaway”. The clear cross-party consensus on this pressing issue means that we can hope for meaningful action to be taken.
It is certainly the case that our current laws are not necessarily equipped to deal with the current epidemic of internet-enabled exploitation. For example, section 46 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 now seems almost comically quaint, since this provision makes it a criminal offence to place adverts for prostitutes in or near telephone boxes in England and Wales. However, the door was left open for online advertising. This legislation was, of course, framed just before the advent of smartphones and social media changed our world, and made both phone boxes and illicit paper advertisements largely redundant as methods of communication.
The Online Safety Act, 2023 does place a general duty on websites to reduce the risk that their services are being used for criminal activity. However, more robust and targeted measures are needed to stem the online prostitution of vulnerable people. These should be drafted carefully, to against unintended consequences. For example, since prostitution itself is not illegal in the UK, it may be counter-productive if any new laws criminalised those who were not being coerced into sex work and who make the informed choice to connect with clients through online advertising.
Of course, any new laws will have little impact if they are not properly enforced. Any governmental drive to tackle sexual exploitation will therefore need to be properly resourced in terms of both police and prosecution resources. Otherwise, the problem will simply fester, while our list of under-enforced laws grows ever longer. Indeed, there are already several laws relevant to sexual exploitation, trafficking and sexual offending that are under-utilised by police and prosecutors.
A 2023 report from the Commons Home Affairs Committee found that that in seven years just three people had been convicted of paying for the sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force, contrary to section 53a of the Sexual Offences Act, 2003.
The Modern Slavery Act, 2015 consolidated pre-existing criminal offences and increased sentences for trafficking and exploitation. However, it has not been applied as effectively as it could be, with an overall charge rate of less than 2% for offences under the legislation – including for offences involving trafficking for sexual purposes. Few can be surprised that sex trafficking and sexual exploitation have burgeoned when the criminal justice system has not been able to keep pace with the evolution of these illicit activities.
By its very nature, the problem of human trafficking is an international one. Therefore, close collaboration with law enforcement agencies overseas is vital. The internet is also, by its very nature, globally accessible. Therefore, even if websites based in the UK are effectively tackled, websites based overseas can be used instead. Robust and co-ordinated action is therefore required from international organisations, governments, law enforcement agencies, technology companies and online platforms.
Prevention work and education can also play an important role. Civil orders can help to disrupt trafficking networks and grooming gangs. Targeted communication campaigns in the most relevant languages can inform the victims of human trafficking of their rights, and the supports available to them.
Tough police and prosecutorial action can send a powerful signal. When offenders are prosecuted and jailed, efforts can be made to ensure that such cases are widely reported in the media – in both local areas and the overseas locations where international gangs are operating. We need to see a renewed focus on enforcing existing laws, while also modernising our laws to shut down the sordid online marketplace that now exists for sexual exploitation.
There is no simple fix to these intractable problems. Nor is there any quick fix. It is therefore good to see a strong cross-party consensus emerging on these issues. We can hope to see consistent action to address the scourge of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking continue over time, and robust measures used to prosecute criminals and traffickers and safeguard victims of sexual abuse.
Lesley’s article was published in New Law Journal, 15 May 2025.
