Using Modern Tools to Counter Human Trafficking
House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation
2025-12-10
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Source: Congress.gov
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On our phones, in our teenagers' pockets, on websites we scroll past, on social media, without even thinking. In the hotel rooms just off the interstates which run through all of our districts all across the country. The average age a victim is first trafficked in the United States could be as low as 12 to 14 years old.
These websites and communication platforms allow traffickers to operate in unimaginable ways. But as we're here today, technology also provides us with a huge opportunity to fight this terrible crime with 21st century tools. Artificial intelligence, data analytics, and digital forensics are no longer science fiction. They're recovering victims in hours instead of months, identifying networks once hidden in plain sight and building courtroom-ready cases against predators who thought the internet made them untouchable. But here's the hard truth. We're still fighting this fight with one hand tied behind our backs. Law enforcement is drowning in more than 20 million cyber tip line reports a year, while task forces are understaffed and underfunded and sometimes stuck using tools that were considered cutting edge 20 years ago. Tech companies are generating mountains of raw data, requiring increased resources to sort through it all. And well-meaning initiatives with the best intentions have, in some cases, driven trafficking deeper into the dark corners of the internet, making it harder for our investigators to follow.
And I'm hoping to learn from our witnesses today what is working, what is not, and most importantly, what Congress needs to do next. Because many in our states, like Attorney General Alan Wilson, aren't doing anything right. In fact, I just learned recently, Allen Wilson prosecuted zero pedophile cases last year in the state of South Carolina, zero. Are our current laws helping or hurting?
The next article is on Live 5 News, four indicted in my district in Charleston area, sex trafficking case and the search for more victims. The next article also in my district, Hanahan husband and wife charged with trafficking and sexually exploiting a girl. In Greenville County, South Carolina, two Greenville County men charged in human trafficking investigation involving minor, Sled says on WYFF. In Rock Hill, South Carolina on WBTV, man accused of trafficking teen in Rock Hill.
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