How apps, social media is fueling 'booming' online prostitution

Prostitution is one of the oldest trades that come in several forms despite the fact that it remains illegal in many countries.

In Tanzania’s commercial capital some of the streets that were once patrolled by prostitutes such as Ohio in Dar es Salaam are now very idle during the night.

Kinondoni’s notorious Makaburini area too has gone dead silent without any girls patrolling the streets in the dead hours of the night.

But this does not mean the trade has died, it is actually booming than ever before as the girls of the night and their clients change tact.

It now takes a very keen eye to identify a prostitute as many try to beat the long arm of the law which had always kept them on run.

They are now found in the rising numbers of lounges- where they pose as regular clients and on their smartphones.

The liberation that came with internet revolution has made transacting the business all but easy using the mobile apps on smartphones.

Through a certain WhatsApp Group a certain woman claims to be in Sinza, a suburb in Dar es Salaam trades as Tunda Apple has several services to her clients from porn videos to ‘fresh girls.’

She has connections across the country where she connects her clients to what she calls beauties at a cost of between Sh30,000 to Sh 100,000.

To conceal her identity, she does not pick calls she claims she wants to keep it purely business.

Tunda Apple is not alone such accounts are many on Instagram where women post pictures and contacts for sexual services and such related issues.

A world wide study released on Tuesday by French anti-prostitution group Fondation Scelles says apps like Facebook and Tinder are fuelling the ‘soaring industry’ of online prostitution and sexual exploitation.

Prostitution has moved "from the street to the Internet", where pimps recruit young girls via Snapchat and Instagram before prostituting them in apartments rented on Airbnb, said anti-prostitution group Fondation Scelles.

The report, "Sexual exploitation: New challenges, new answers" looked at trends in 35 countries.

In Israel, dating app Tinder is the most popular tool to find prostitutes, while in Zambia students in join Whatsapp and Facebook groups to connect with prostitutes and pimps in a few clicks, the report said.

In France, gangs contact underage girls from "welfare homes and high schools" on social networks such as Facebook and Snapchat, promising "opportunities to make money very quickly" before posting online advertisements and prostituting them.

Adverts on dating websites and online forums about sexuality -- but also "websites having no direct connection to this theme" -- facilitate "the concealment, anonymity and discretion... of these illegal activities", the study said.

"This is happening around the world, from restrictive countries like China, to Germany where legislation is more lenient," Yves Charpenel, head of the Fondation Scelles told AFP.

However, it can be hard to track down perpetrators, who hide behind online anonymity and ambiguous advertisements for "massages" and "pleasant moments".

"From the same computer, a criminal network can find its 'products', advertise to clients, and then launder the money," Charpenel said.

He condemned the ‘industrial scale’ of online prostitution, which allows pimps to ‘avoid personal risk’ by creating a distance from their victims.
Mobilise social networks

In recent years, governments have grappled with the problem of balancing internet freedom and holding sites accountable for their content.

Last March, the US Congress passed a bill that allows victims of sex trafficking to seek justice against website owners who knowingly promote or facilitate the practise.

A month later, US authorities shut down classified advertising website Backpage -- accused of being the biggest website for prostitution in the world -- and indicted the site's co-founders on charges of enabling prostitution and money laundering.

In France, advertising site Vivastreet shut down its "Encounters" section last June to prevent "abuse" or "inappropriate use" from "certain users".

"These are the first significant milestones towards an authentic governance of the Internet," the report said.

The organisation called on authorities to "mobilise social networks" and hold accountable websites which profit from online prostitution.

"We need to go further," it said.

Additional reporting by Paul Owere