Maids for sale: How Silicon Valley enables online slave markets

Google, Apple and Facebook-owned Instagram are enabling an illegal online slave market by providing and approving apps used for the buying and selling of domestic workers in the Gulf.

BBC News Arabic’s undercover investigation exposes app users in Kuwait breaking local and international laws on modern slavery, including a woman offering a child for sale.

The discovery of 'Fatou' in Kuwait City, her rescue and journey back home to Guinea, West Africa, is at the heart of this investigation into Silicon Valley’s online slave market.

After being alerted to the issue, Facebook said it had banned one of the hashtags involved and taken down 703 accounts from Instagram.

Google and Apple said they were working with app developers to prevent illegal activity.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk

Directed by Jess Kelly
Producer by Owen Pinnell

BBC OUR WORLD
Editing by Eliane Lazzaris