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The latest report from the UK anti-slavery commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, is a call to action on websites used to advertise sex workers – some of whom are victims of trafficking and exploitation. Researchers studied 12 adult service sites (ASWs), which between them had 63,000 listings in January, and attracted 41.7m visits. When analysed with a tool, known as the Sexual Trafficking Identification Matrix, which is also used by police, just 8% of listings showed no warning signs. These include the same phone number appearing across multiple ads, and phrases such as “new to the area”.
The watchdog has identified alarming gaps in the law, in the approach taken by Ofcom, and in policing. The commissioner’s recommendations demand a response. The sharp recent rise in referrals of potential victims of sexual exploitation makes the issue all the more pressing. Between 2020 and 2025, they increased by 78% – from 1,618 to 2,887 women and girls a year (men and boys are more commonly referred for labour or criminal exploitation, including “county lines”).
The report combines the qualitative findings from 12 in-depth interviews with data analysis and a law review. It does not claim to represent the views of all sex workers. The report is also not a survey and it acknowledges that there is a diversity of opinions even among survivors who believe that ASWs are harmful. While some favour outlawing them on the basis that they are virtual brothels (brothel-keeping is illegal across the UK), others prefer tighter regulation.
What is beyond doubt, however, is that a gap has opened up between what is allowed online and offline. Just as web-based pornography businesses routinely feature extreme content that could not be legally published in other formats, a “vast digital ecosystem” of online sex advertising operates in ways that no offline business could. Of particular concern are platform features that allow third parties to control profiles, bookings and earnings, while buyers remain anonymous. The report also highlights the use of tick-box menus of sex acts, and includes first-person accounts of how such tools are used to erode women’s boundaries and normalise violence.
The report rightly urges politicians and regulators to look beyond “surface indicators of choice”. Multiple women told the authors how their autonomy slipped away, as men who they trusted found ways to manipulate them. The finding that livestreamed sexual content can function as a gateway to in-person sex work should be viewed as a wake-up call. Sensible recommendations include improved support services for survivors, a public consultation on a possible ban, and robust age assurance to protect children. While Ofcom has issued fines against pornography businesses, it has launched no investigations into ASWs. Published guidance minimises the responsibilities of websites and ignores trafficking risks.
The commissioner is not the first to raise these issues. The National Crime Agency has warned that such websites enable organised crime. Better support for survivors was among the recommendations of an all-party group of MPs (chaired by Labour’s Dame Diana Johnson) five years ago. Yet despite its pledge to halve violence against women and girls, the government appears passive in the face of this emerging threat – and proposes to cut national funding for modern slavery policing from next month. Victims deserve better. Ministers must act.
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