The Global Slavery Index 2023

Spotlights 4 

​Anti-Social: Modern Slavery on Social Media
Recommendations for Governments
Introduce mandatory human rights due diligence laws, similar to the French Duty of Vigilance law, which require businesses and other organisations to conduct due diligence to proactively identify and remediate forced labour risks and which cover the entire value chain including end-users. 
 
Strengthen existing MSAs to require social media companies to report on how they are addressing modern slavery on their platforms (including companies with a significant user base in Australia and/or the UK, regardless of annual revenue) and to issue detailed guidance to support implementation.
 
Cooperate with other governments to strengthen governance and accountability frameworks for social media companies. Such frameworks must consider the constantly evolving nature of digital technologies and ensure sufficient geographic coverage. 
 
Consider potential unintended consequences, such as the removal of safeguards for sex workers, in all legislative and policy responses to regulate online digital spaces, and include those with lived experience in any consultations regarding addressing human rights and modern slavery risks on social media.
 
Ensure all legislative and policy responses are informed by research and developed in consultation with survivors, social media experts, and anti-slavery stakeholders. 
 
Recommendations for Social Media
Develop and publish clear and specific policies to detect, prevent, and remedy modern slavery risks across the entire value chain, including their social media platforms. 
 
Conduct due diligence, including implementing and reporting on measures to systematically detect modern slavery on their platforms. These efforts should include dedicated monitoring for indicators of modern slavery, as well as mechanisms for users to report modern slavery and for local support providers to reach at-risk users safely and securely.
 
Provide effective remediation for incidents that occur on their platforms through removing violating content and accounts, transparent reporting on content moderation, cooperating with law enforcement (while safeguarding privacy and human rights), and referring affected persons to support services. 
 
Actively prevent modern slavery risks on social media through verifying recruitment advertisements and social media business pages, targeting awareness-raising on risks, promoting anti-slavery hotlines, providing identity verification options for all users, and requiring compulsory modern slavery training for product and third-party software developers. 
 
Engage in industry collaborations to lift industry standards for preventing, identifying, and mitigating modern slavery risks. These collaborations must involve consultation with survivors and anti-slavery experts. 
 
Walk Free 2023. Global Slavery Index 2023. Minderoo Foundation Ltd. Australia.