The overall societal conduct in any state is highly regulated by the dense net of national, supranational, and sub-national rules and regulations. However, the corporate world is still lacking the comprehensive grasp of the legality and morality of its complex and multifaceted conducts and their impact on larger society per se.

The negligence of technological practices is one of the driving forces of trafficking and exploitation. Modern technologies are rapidly emerging, and both public and private organizations are moving at a higher speed, creating new products and services. Yet, the execution of a comprehensive legal framework in protecting the end users is a subject that is still lacking significant attention. Trafficking is a global problem that needs to be addressed publicly and privately. This highly organized activity hugely affects vulnerable children, women, and men with long-term consequences to their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Everyone hopes for a fair and equal justice system. However, in this constantly evolving world, our privacy and safety are becoming less protected online.

Destined to Protect the Voiceless

At the annual gathering of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), held on March 31st and April 1st in Vienna, Laila Mickelwait was invited by the panel organizer; prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic (on behalf of the International Institute IFIMES) to share her thoughts and fights against the abuse of technology to vulnerable innocents.

During her childhood days, one moment in particular would shape her path: she was called by her father to watch a documentary about child trafficking. "It really gripped me," she recalled. "I thought it was the most horrifying thing that could ever happen to someone."

Mickelwait is a woman of dignity and purpose and a leading expert in the field of anti-trafficking. She is an activist and the founder of the Justice Defense Fund and the global #Traffickinghub movement. At a very young age, she already understood the importance of justice and human rights. Learning from her father gave her a foundation to understand how to protect others. He was her biggest source of inspiration, allowing her to continue this path.

Her father was a general and vascular surgeon and passed away in 2014 after suffering a heart attack. After her father's death, she visited his grave and vowed to bring justice to abuse victims. "He was just an amazing father and the reason why I am doing this work today," Mickelwait said.

She has presented at many events, conferences, and universities and has advocated for legislative reform at the United Nations and to lawmakers in numerous countries.

She firmly believes in the power of collective action, which has been one of the key principles of her remarkable work.

"There is a power in a movement—when individuals from across cultures, countries, political parties, and faiths all join together in one unified cause."

The Battle Against the Giant

Mickelwait recently published a book entitled “Takedown,” where she discusses her fight against powerful entities on behalf of vulnerable individuals for child abuse, rape, and sex trafficking, emphasizing the importance of justice and human rights. She said, "Pornhub is the 10th most trafficked website across the entire internet." She discovered that the platform had been infested with child sexual abuse and rape videos. Pornhub's billionaire executives are strongly supported by credit card companies in monetizing the abuse of countless victims. Her book delves deeper into the trafficking movement of two million people against Pornhub executives and credit card companies.

She has been investigating the intersection between sex trafficking and the porn industry. "There is a Big Porn Industry, just like there is a Big Pharma and Big Tobacco." She believes that there is a Big Porn Industry that is dominated by one company that owns all the internet pornography, including the most popular porn sites in the world.

Mickelwait has been very instrumental in exposing and challenging the unethical practices of Pornhub, leading to the removal of a vast amount of unverified and non-consensual content of minors. Due to her relentless work, significant changes were made in the pornography industry, including the removal of millions of illicit videos from Pornhub.

"I have been combating the issue of sex trafficking now for about 15 years. I started to notice that we are seeing the same victims that are exploited in the streets of Thailand or somewhere and who are also being exploited online. They are raped, they are abused, their trafficking is being filmed, and it is being uploaded online and monetized online."

She persists in advocating for age verification on pornographic websites to protect minors and reduce exploitation and trafficking. In her congressional testimony, she discussed the huge role of financial companies in ending exploitation and urged for stricter regulations.

Justice will Prevail

However, there are still loopholes that enable technologies to continue human trafficking. Section 230 of the U.S. The Communications Decency Act (CDA), which was enacted in 1996, provides limited federal immunity to providers and users of interactive computer services, primarily protecting them from liability for content created by third parties. As such, it prevents them from being held liable and responsible for the harmful or illegal content posted by their users. This has been considered a key factor in the development and growth of the internet, as it allows online platforms to function without fear of being held liable for the actions of their users and the spread of harmful content.

This legal structure simply states that we should all be responsible for our actions and statements made online, but generally not for those of others. Given this, the solutions are within our reach to address a broader call for legal responsibility and reform, ensuring that the end-users of online platforms, especially the vulnerable innocents, are safe and protected.

The pornography industry is a system designed to prioritize profit over human dignity, leaving countless survivors healing from trauma. That is why Laila and her #TraffickingHub movement brought a change for the victims, children robbed of their innocence, and for the society where negligence should never be tolerated.

"Everyone agrees that no one should be raped for profit on the world's largest porn site."

Mickelwait is a remarkable woman that must be followed. Driven by purpose, armed with resilience, having a deep care for justice, and a continuous drive to protect the innocent. Without her courage, many of Pornhub's victims might still be voiceless, and the system driven by greed might have gone unchallenged.

"My hope is that this story is inspiring and encouraging to everybody to take on whatever it is in their life that they have their giant to face," she said in her interview.

She is just a person like many of us, but her refusal to ignore the truth is what sets her apart.

"I believe that one individual who is determined to make a difference in the world can, with desire, drive, dedication, discipline, passion, and persistence, alter the world, and billions of people's lives can be impacted positively in an unimaginable way."

Mickelwait is not alone in this journey, as millions of people will support this cause and take down the greed that brings harm, pain, and suffering to innocents.

Jehanie Milky Nagon is a Manila-based Information Officer of IFIMES (Department for Strategic Studies on Asia). Beyond ASEAN and Asia, her interests are in history, research technology and innovations, global studies, and the environment.