Paris: Apps like Facebook and Tinder are fuelling the "soaring industry" of online prostitution and sexual exploitation, according to a worldwide study published by a French anti-prostitution group on Tuesday.
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, news 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 cybercafes 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.
