Facebook can be used for social causes, connecting with friends or even market a product virally. But in Indonesia, Facebook is used as a channel for human trafficking.
Chief of Crime and Investigation, Toni Surya Saputra, said that based on the suspect’s confession, all victims are put to the market through Facebook.
Besides having a large group of Indonesian on Facebook, the social network also has applications like Photos to ease the trafficking procedures.
The client looks through the photos and contacts the “agent” once he decides to buy one of the girls. Even though we believe the group was created only for private members, the choice of using Facebook still shock us.
Indonesia is a huge social media nation. It houses over 33 million Facebook users and is the second largest Facebook nation, only falling behind the U.S. Interestingly, there are only about 40 million Internet users in Indonesia. In other words, 75 percent of the entire Internet Indonesian population are on Facebook. The social-networking site has become one of the most important online tools for marketers in Indonesia. Although using a platform as open as Facebook for trafficking is suicidal, the culprit confessed that this activity has been ongoing for two years.
“We’re still fighting the human trafficking in Indonesia. Our country has one of the highest human trafficking issues in Asia,” said Andi Primaretha, an Indonesian based in Jakarta.
On the contrary, there are groups formed on Facebook to fight Indonesia’s human trafficking problem. A Facebook group titled “Stop Human Trafficking Di Indonesia” has over 700 likes. As Facebook becomes more popular in Indonesia, it places stress on the police to monitor and trace down any vice activities conducted on the social network. Users could also report the issue directly to Facebook. A ‘report page’ option can be found at the bottom left of the site.