Records · Verification table
Verification: Human trafficking pages — 2026-11-05
The working record behind the pages, published as written. Source file source/verify/trafficking-2026-11-05.md. All records.
Scope. Every checkable claim on content/trafficking.html, content/trafficking-learn.html, content/trafficking-do.html, content/trafficking-practice.html, and the "trafficking" entry of CORRECTIONS in tools/essays.py. Each claim was checked against the original source, read fresh on 2026-11-05. Nothing below rests on memory: where a source could not be read today, the verdict is UNFETCHABLE.
Method.
- HTML pages: WebFetch. Where a site refused WebFetch (state.gov 403, dhs.gov 403, unodc.org 404-to-bots, ijm.org 403/402, ice.gov Akamai shell, freedomfund.org form) the page was downloaded with
curland a Safari user-agent into an isolated folder and stripped to text with a one-file Python script run with-I. Every such download is noted. - PDFs (ILO Global Estimates 4.8 MB; UNODC GLOTIP 2024 18 MB; Exodus Road 2025 report 2 MB; attorneys-general letter 1 MB) were saved by WebFetch/curl and extracted with
pdftotext -layout. Quotes are from the extracted text; the UNODC extraction loses digits in some figure captions, so only legible passages are quoted. web.archive.orgis unreachable from this tool, so no archived copies were used; the one archive-dependent claim is marked.- The session's web-search budget ran out after four searches; all later checks used known URLs (the research file's, the pages', or an organisation's own alternative page). Nothing was fetched through proxies or readers.
- Quotes are verbatim from the source text as extracted (typography normalised: straight quotes, no line breaks).
Verdicts. CONFIRMED (source's words in hand) · CORRECTED (page wording is off; fix given) · NOT IN SOURCE (the cited/available source does not say it; what it does say is given) · UNFETCHABLE (source not readable today) · NEWER DATA (a later edition/figure exists; the page may still be right "as of") · OWN (the site's own estimate or judgement — minutes, reading times, "we found"; not externally checkable, listed so nothing is skipped, not counted as a verdict).
Grades (site scale): primary · research · charity's own figures · programme's own figures · rating · news · industry projection.
Source fetch log (all 2026-11-05).
| Source | URL | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ILO/Walk Free/IOM, Global Estimates of Modern Slavery (PDF) | https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/ILO_GEMS-2022_Report_EN_Web.pdf | OK (WebFetch, PDF saved; pdftotext 7,384 lines) |
| ILO landing page | https://www.ilo.org/publications/major-publications/global-estimates-modern-slavery-forced-labour-and-forced-marriage | OK |
| UNODC GLOTIP 2024 (PDF) | https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2024/GLOTIP2024_BOOK.pdf | WebFetch 404; curl 200 (18,179,565 bytes; pdftotext 10,857 lines) |
| UNODC GLOTIP landing | https://www.unodc.org/unodc/data-and-analysis/glotip.html | WebFetch 404; curl 200. (The research file's /unodc/en/… URL also 404 to WebFetch.) |
| UNODC Migrant Smuggling / FAQ | https://www.unodc.org/unodc/human-trafficking/smuggling-of-migrants.html ; https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html | curl 200 |
| Hotline: statistics, myths-facts, contact, recognizing-signs, report-trafficking, when-you-reach-us, confidentiality-policy, about-us, hotline-faqs, get-help, chat | https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/… | all OK (FAQs and chat also via curl) |
| Polaris press releases 22 Sep 2025 and 8 Dec 2025 | polarisproject.org/press-releases/… | OK |
| The Exodus Road report page; PDF; donate | https://theexodusroad.com/2025-human-trafficking-report/ ; …/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/TERs-HT-Report-2025-1.pdf ; …/donate/ | OK (PDF saved; pdftotext 225 lines) |
| US State Dept TIP 2026, TIP 2025, reports index | https://www.state.gov/reports/2026-trafficking-in-persons-report/ ; …/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/ ; https://www.state.gov/reports-office-to-monitor-and-combat-trafficking-in-persons/ | WebFetch 403; curl 200 (440,750 / 512,613 / 198,092 bytes) |
| DHS Blue Campaign indicators | https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/indicators-human-trafficking | WebFetch 403; curl 200 (live page, "Last Updated: 11/18/2025") |
| NCMEC: CyberTipline data, sextortion, CyberTipline, Is Your Explicit Content Out There, NetSmartz sextortion | missingkids.org/… | OK |
| Take It Down | https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/ | OK |
| GovInfo, Public Law 118-59 (REPORT Act) | https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-118publ59/html/PLAW-118publ59.htm | OK |
| Cornell LII, 22 U.S.C. § 7102 | https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/7102 | OK |
| OpenAlex records: Bryant & Landman 2020; LeBaron 2021 | https://api.openalex.org/works/doi:10.1080/23322705.2020.1690097 ; …/doi:10.1111/jscm.12258 | OK |
| Europe PMC: Raposa et al. 2019 (PMID 30661211) | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search?query=EXT_ID:30661211%20AND%20SRC:MED&resultType=core&format=json | OK (PubMed itself served a cookie wall) |
| Charity Navigator: The Exodus Road; IJM | https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/461384815 ; …/541722887 | OK (needed offset 100000) |
| Freedom Fund: impact; donate; 2025–26 impact report | https://www.freedomfund.org/impact/ ; …/donate/ ; …/news/2025-2026-impact-report/ | OK (donate form also inspected via curl) |
| Sanctuary for Families: home; donate (301 → secure2.convio.net) | https://sanctuaryforfamilies.org/ ; …/donate/ | OK |
| Restore NYC: give-monthly; home; what-we-do; our-impact; what-is-trafficking | https://restorenyc.org/… | OK |
| GEMS: donate-now; home; our-mission | https://www.gems-girls.org/… | OK |
| IJM: donate; home | https://www.ijm.org/donate ; https://www.ijm.org/ | FAILED WebFetch 402, curl 403 |
| Fair Food Program: home; results; buyers; about; consumers | https://fairfoodprogram.org/… | OK (faq, label pages 404) |
| US DOL ILAB List of Goods | https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods | OK |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters: impact; BBBS NYC volunteer | https://www.bbbs.org/impact/ ; https://www.bigsnyc.org/volunteer-sign | OK |
| ICE HSI tip line | https://www.ice.gov/tips | FAILED (Akamai shell only); number confirmed on the DHS page instead |
| IC3 | https://www.ic3.gov/ | OK |
| Attorneys general letter to HHS, 15 Apr 2025 (PDF, California AG copy); NAAG summary | https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/National%20Human%20Trafficking%20Hotline_FINAL.pdf ; https://www.naag.org/policy-letter/41-state-and-territory-attorneys-general-urges-enhanced-cooperation-from-national-human-trafficking-hotline-operator/ | OK (PDF extracted) |
| Federal Register API (presidential documents) | https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json?conditions[term]=… | OK |
| White House, Presidential Message 6 Jan 2026 | https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/01/presidential-message-on-national-slavery-and-human-trafficking-prevention-month/ | curl 200 |
| Congress.gov, H.Res.1024 text | https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hres1024/BILLS-119hres1024ih.htm | OK |
---
1. content/trafficking.html (overview)
| # | Page text | Source | Source text | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O1 | "In 2021, the latest estimate, 49.6 million people were in modern slavery." | ILO GEMS PDF; ILO landing page | PDF: "The 2021 Global Estimates indicate that 49.6 million people are in modern slavery on any given day, either forced to work against their will or in a marriage that they were forced into." Landing page: published "12 September 2022"; the only later item is "Global estimates of modern slavery: Forced labour and forced marriage - Methodology", 9 October 2025; no newer estimate listed. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| O2 | "Call 1-888-373-7888 · Text 233733" | Hotline contact page | "1-888-373-7888" · "TTY: 711" · "Text* 233733" ("Reply HELP for help or STOP to cancel at any time.") | CONFIRMED | primary |
| O3 | "24 hours, 200+ languages, anonymous if you want." | Hotline contact; FAQs | Contact: "You can reach the Hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in more than 200 languages." FAQs: "You can report a tip anonymously. You do not need to provide your name or any identifying details about your situation unless you are comfortable doing so." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| O4 | "If someone is in danger right now, call 911." | Hotline contact | "If you are in immediate danger, contact 911." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| O5 | Door labels "10 minutes", "15 minutes · $0", "A drill · 10 minutes" | — | Site's own estimates. Internal inconsistency: the Practice page says "the drill takes five minutes"; this page says "A drill · 10 minutes". | OWN (fix the mismatch) | — |
| O6 | "why 'two-thirds online' isn't a global number" | The Exodus Road report page | "Two-thirds of our 2025 cases involved online recruitment — making digital safety education more critical than ever." | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures |
| O7 | "Six scenarios" | trafficking-practice.html | Six <details class="drill"> elements. | CONFIRMED (internal) | — |
| O8 | "two figures that turned out to describe one charity's own cases" | TER page and PDF | "Two-thirds of our 2025 cases…"; "Nearly 40% of arrested traffickers in 2025 were women." PDF: "262 TOTAL ARRESTS*" with "100 Females Arrested". | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures |
| O9 | Essay title "Ending sex and human trafficking" | source/essays/trafficking.md | "# Ending Sex and Human Trafficking" | CONFIRMED (case only) | primary |
| O10 | "It argues that demand, trauma and weak institutions hold the trade in place together." | essay | Site's own characterisation of Isaac's essay; not externally checkable. | OWN | — |
2. content/trafficking-learn.html
| # | Page text | Source | Source text | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | "Nine facts, five words to keep apart" | page itself | ol.facts has 9 items; dl.words has 5 <dt>. | CONFIRMED (internal) | — |
| L2 | Fact 1: "49.6 million people were in modern slavery on any given day in 2021. 27.6 million in forced labour, 22 million in forced marriage. It's a modelled estimate from household surveys, and it's the latest there is." | ILO GEMS PDF (exec. summary and ch. 1); ILO landing page | "The 2021 Global Estimates indicate that 49.6 million people are in modern slavery on any given day … Forced labour accounts for 27.6 million of those in modern slavery and forced marriage for 22 million." Method: "the 2021 calculations are derived from multiple data sources, as no single source was sufficiently reliable. The principal sources are data from nationally representative household surveys – 68 forced labour surveys and 75 forced marriage surveys – jointly conducted by ILO and Walk Free, as well as the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC)". Latest: no newer estimate on the ILO page (O1). | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L3 | Fact 2: "Forced labour has overtaken sexual exploitation among victims the authorities find. Worldwide in 2022: 42% forced labour, 36% sexual exploitation, 8% forced crime." | UNODC GLOTIP 2024, preface and key-findings infographic | Preface: "victims trafficked for forced labour now account for the biggest share of all victims around the world, overtaking those who are trafficked for sexual exploitation, yet criminal convictions remain primarily focused on the latter." Infographic ("Forms of exploitation of detected victims"): "42 % are trafficked for forced labour", "36 % are trafficked for sexual exploitation", "8 % forced criminality", "8 % … mixed forms of exploitation", "4 % … other purposes", "1% forced begging", "1% forced marriages" (sums to 100). | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L4 | Fact 2: "Of the 27.6 million in forced labour, 6.3 million were in forced commercial sexual exploitation." | ILO GEMS PDF | "An estimated 6.3 million people are in situations of forced commercial sexual exploitation at any point in time." (Forced labour = 17.3 M private-economy + 6.3 M commercial sexual exploitation + 3.9 M state-imposed.) | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L5 | Fact 3: "Authorities detected 74,785 victims in 2022. The estimate is 27.6 million. Detection reaches a fraction of one percent." | GLOTIP 2024 infographic; ILO | "74,785 victims detected" (panel headed "Main profile of victims detected, 2022 (or most recent)"). Arithmetic: 74,785 ÷ 27,600,000 = 0.27%. | CONFIRMED — note: the two numbers measure different things (detected trafficking victims of all forms, 2022-or-latest year per country, vs a modelled 2021 forced-labour total that includes state-imposed forced labour and excludes forced marriage). The "fraction of one percent" conclusion survives the mismatch. | primary |
| L6 | Fact 4: "Children are 38% of detected victims, and that number rose 31% between 2019 and 2022. Girls 22%, boys 16%." | GLOTIP 2024 infographic and preface | "children 38% adults 62%"; "22% girls 16% boys 39% women 23% men"; "Trends compared to 2019 (pre-covid) … +31% in the detection of total children … +38% girls … +24% boys". Preface: "the number of children among detected victims is growing rapidly and alarmingly, increasing by a third over the space of three years. In particular, the number of girls detected has surged, increasing by 38%." Arithmetic: 22 + 16 = 38. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L7 | Fact 5: "61% of detected victims are women and girls. In forced commercial sexual exploitation it's about four in five. Male victims are under-identified, the US hotline says." | GLOTIP 2024 preface; ILO; hotline Myths & Facts | GLOTIP: "Women and girls remain the biggest share of detected victims worldwide, accounting for 61% of the total in 2022" (39% women + 22% girls). ILO: "nearly four out of every five people trapped in these situations are girls or women." Hotline: "One study estimates that as many as half of sex trafficking victims and survivors are male. Advocates believe that percentage may be even higher but that male victims are far less likely to be identified." | CONFIRMED — note: UNODC's own detected figures for sexual exploitation are higher than ILO's "four in five": "64 % women … 28% girls" (92% female). The page attributes four-in-five to source 1 (ILO), which is right. | primary |
| L8 | Fact 6: "Most traffickers are men. Women were 28% of those convicted worldwide. The 'nearly 40% women' figure that circulates is one charity's 2025 arrests: 100 of 262." | GLOTIP 2024 infographic; TER page and PDF | GLOTIP: "28 % of traffickers convicted are women" (the men's share is in the same panel; digits lost in extraction; 100 − 28 = 72). TER page: "Nearly 40% of arrested traffickers in 2025 were women." PDF: "262 TOTAL ARRESTS*", "139 Males Arrested", "100 Females Arrested", "05 Gender Non-Conforming Individuals Arrested", "*GENDER AND AGE WAS NOT ALWAYS REPORTED/COLLECTED". Arithmetic: 100 ÷ 262 = 38.2%. | CONFIRMED | primary; charity's own figures |
| L9 | Fact 7: "The US hotline logged 52,664 contacts and identified 15,085 cases in 2025, in every state. 606 in New York. The hotline says its numbers measure calls, not how common trafficking is. More of its cases are sex trafficking (6,201) than labour (2,400)." | Hotline statistics page | 2025: "Signals" 52,664; cases 15,085; victims 21,457; sex trafficking cases 6,201; labor 2,400; sex and labor 1,607. New York 2025: 1,262 signals, 606 cases. State tables list all 50 states + DC (+5 territories); lowest 2025 case counts Vermont 11, Rhode Island 15, North Dakota 16. "The summary statistics on this page do not reflect the prevalence of human trafficking victimization among a particular population or in any given area." | CONFIRMED — caveat: the same page says "The current report is based on data retrieved on April 22, 2025" while showing full-2025 totals; the page contradicts itself on its own date. | primary |
| L10 | Fact 8 headline: "The fastest-growing form is forced crime" | TIP 2026 (scam section); GLOTIP 2024 preface | Neither source ranks growth. GLOTIP: "We are also seeing a rise in trafficking for forced criminality, as organized crime models evolve and use trafficking victims to conduct online scams and other crimes". TIP 2026: "Scam operations that reportedly engage in human trafficking are increasing in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, the Pacific Islands, Europe and Latin America." | NOT IN SOURCE (the superlative). Fix: "A fast-rising form is forced crime: people trafficked into scam compounds." | primary |
| L11a | Fact 8: "Hundreds of thousands of people from at least 80 countries have been recruited" | TIP 2026, "Scam Operations: Trafficking, Technology, and the Evolving Threat…" | "During the past several years, these criminals have recruited hundreds of thousands of people from at least 80 countries to power these operations, exploiting many in forced labor and forced criminality". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L11b | Fact 8: "mostly with fake job offers" | TIP 2026 | "Traffickers associated with scam operations often recruit victims through fraudulent job offers on conventional job boards, portals, social media, or messaging apps, or through members of their community." | CORRECTED: "often", not "mostly". Fix: "often with fake job offers". | primary |
| L11c | Fact 8: "Americans lost at least $18.2 billion to Southeast Asia-based scam operations in 2025." | TIP 2026 | "In 2025, Americans lost at least $18.2 billion to Southeast Asia-based scam operations." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L12a | Fact 9: "The 2026 US report lists 12 countries with state policies or patterns of trafficking, down from 13 in 2025." | TIP 2026; TIP 2025 (curl) | 2026: "The 2026 TIP Report includes the following 12 countries with a documented 'policy or pattern' of human trafficking…: Afghanistan*, Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan". 2025: "The 2025 TIP Report includes the following 13 countries…" same twelve plus "Syria (Assad regime)". Arithmetic: 13 − 1 = 12; the only difference is Syria. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L12b | Fact 9: "Hotline operations changed hands in December 2025; the number didn't." | Polaris release 8 Dec 2025; hotline FAQs; hotline contact | Polaris (dated December 8, 2025): operations "now fully managed by Compass Connections"; Polaris "no longer holds any operational role in the Hotline". Hotline FAQs: "Compass Connections began operation of the Trafficking Hotline in September 2025." Contact page: "1-888-373-7888". | CONFIRMED (contest kept): Polaris dates the completed handover to 8 Dec 2025; the hotline's own FAQ dates Compass's start to September 2025. Suggested wording: "changed hands in late 2025 (Compass Connections began operating it in September; Polaris announced the full handover on 8 December); the number didn't." | primary |
| L13 | Words — Trafficking: "No border needs crossing. Any minor in commercial sex is a trafficking victim by US law, with no coercion needed." | Hotline Myths & Facts; 22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)(A) | Hotline: "The crime of human trafficking does not require any movement whatsoever." Statute: "sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age". | CONFIRMED — the statute is not cited on the page; add it to the sources. | primary |
| L14 | Words — Modern slavery: "forced labour plus forced marriage. The 49.6 million is modern slavery. Forced marriage counts, but isn't all trafficking." | ILO GEMS | "49.6 million people are in modern slavery on any given day, either forced to work against their will or in a marriage that they were forced into." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L15 | Words — Smuggling: "Paying to be moved across a border. A crime against the border, agreed to by the person. It can turn into trafficking; it isn't the same thing." | UNODC Migrant Smuggling page; UNODC human-trafficking FAQ | "Migrant Smuggling is the facilitation, for financial or other material gain, of irregular entry into a country where the migrant is not a national or resident." FAQ: "smuggling of migrants does not, by definition, involve the exploitation of the migrant. Trafficking victims can be trafficked within their home country or internationally, whereas migrant smuggling always crosses national borders. Some trafficked people might start their journey by being smuggled into a country illegally…" | CONFIRMED in substance (uncited on the page; "agreed to by the person" is implied by "facilitation … for gain", not stated). Add the UNODC FAQ to sources. | primary |
| L16 | Words — Detected vs estimated: "(74,785) … (27.6 million) … '38% children' describe the detected." | GLOTIP; ILO | As L5, L6. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L17 | Words — Signals vs cases vs victims: "52,664 · 15,085 · 21,457 in 2025." | Hotline statistics | 52,664 signals; 15,085 cases; 21,457 victims (2025). | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L18 | Contest: "Globally, labour (UN, 42% to 36%). In US hotline data, sex (6,201 to 2,400) … The hotline's own myths page says experts believe labour trafficking is more common worldwide." | GLOTIP; hotline statistics; hotline Myths & Facts | Myths: "Worldwide, experts believe there are more situations of labor trafficking than of sex trafficking." Figures as L3, L9. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L19 | Contest: "'Two-thirds of cases involved online recruitment' is The Exodus Road describing its own 2025 cases, and even their infographic words it differently. Their ranked list puts false job offers first." | TER page; TER PDF | Page: "Two-thirds of our 2025 cases involved online recruitment". PDF infographic: "67% Cases Involved Data from Social Media" (under "ONLINE", next to "24 Cases Supported by Cyber-investigators"). PDF: "TOP RECRUITMENT METHODS Ranked by prevalence* 01 False job promise 02 Social media 03 Violence/threats/kidnapping 04 Grooming 05 Relationship/marriage". | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures |
| L20 | Contest: "Reports of online child sex trafficking to NCMEC rose 323% in 2025, but NCMEC credits most of that to a 2024 law that made platforms report, not to a rise in the crime." | NCMEC CyberTipline data 2025 | "reports to the CyberTipline related to child sex trafficking increased by 323% compared to 2024" … attributed to the REPORT Act, which requires ESPs to report online enticement and child sex trafficking as they report CSAM; "the mandated reporting required by the REPORT Act for the first time is exposing the pervasiveness of this crime." | CORRECTED (minor): NCMEC attributes the rise to mandated reporting but gives no proportion. Fix: "but NCMEC attributes the rise to a 2024 law that made platforms report, which it says is exposing a crime that was already there." | primary |
| L21 | Contest: "They publish their own results and score well on financial accountability. A review of the field found evaluations measure activity, not outcomes." | Bryant & Landman 2020 (OpenAlex abstract); Charity Navigator TER, IJM | Abstract: evaluations "have primarily focused on assessing the progress of project implementation and the achievement of outputs, rather than tracking the achievement of outcomes or impact"; "organizations are still struggling to demonstrate impact". CN: The Exodus Road "98%" "Four-Star Charity", "4 of 4 BEACONS COMPLETED", Accountability & Finance metrics all 100%, "Fiscal Year 2025"; IJM "97%" "Four-Star Charity", "1 of 4 BEACONS COMPLETED", Accountability & Finance 100%, "Fiscal Year 2025". | CONFIRMED ("No independent impact evaluation … turned up in our check" is OWN) | research; rating |
| L22 | Contest: end-demand laws "Contested, and not reviewed here." | — | Site's own statement. | OWN | — |
| L23 | "Two of its figures turned out to be one charity's caseload" | TER | As O8. | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures |
| L24 | "Read the originals" links: hotline Myths; GLOTIP 2024 PDF; ILO page; TIP 2026 | — | Myths 200; GLOTIP PDF 200 with a browser user-agent (404 to WebFetch's client); ILO 200; TIP 2026 200 with a browser user-agent (403 to WebFetch). Reading times are OWN. | CONFIRMED (links work for a browser) | — |
| L25 | s1: ILO … "September 2022 (2021 data)" | ILO PDF title page; landing page | "September 2022"; "The 2021 Global Estimates". Landing: "12 September 2022". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L26 | s2: UNODC GLOTIP 2024 "December 2024 (2022 data): 74,785 detected victims; 38% children; forced labour 42%, sexual exploitation 36%; women 28% of those convicted" | GLOTIP PDF | "© United Nations, December 2024."; figures as L3, L5, L6, L8. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L27 | s3: hotline Statistics "(2025 data)" and Myths, "read 5 Nov 2026" | hotline | Read today; 2025 table present. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L28 | s4: "The Exodus Road, 2025 Human Trafficking Report and its PDF, January 2026. Their own cases in five countries." | TER PDF; TER page | PDF: "Our teams in Brazil, Colombia, India, Thailand, and the United States lead and support anti-trafficking work within and beyond their borders, with successful cases supported in 16 countries worldwide." Page: "Our teams in Brazil, Colombia, India, Thailand, the United States, and one other undisclosed Latin American country lead and support work beyond their borders." PDF path /uploads/2026/01/ (page itself undated). | CORRECTED: not "cases in five countries". Fix: "Its own 2025 cases: teams in five countries (the web page adds a sixth, undisclosed), with cases in 16 countries." | charity's own figures |
| L29 | s5: TIP 2026 "8 October 2026"; TIP 2025 "29 September 2025" | State Dept reports index | "October 8, 2026 / 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report"; "September 29, 2025 / 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L30 | s6: Polaris transfer release "December 2025"; hotline contact page | Polaris; hotline | Release dated December 8, 2025 (L12b). | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L31 | s7: NCMEC CyberTipline data 2025; "the REPORT Act, S.474, signed 7 May 2024" | GovInfo PLAW-118publ59 | "Public Law 118-59"; "S. 474"; "Approved May 7, 2024."; short title "Revising Existing Procedures On Reporting via Technology Act". Section 4(a)(1) inserts ", of section 1591 (if the violation involves a minor), or of 2422(b)" into providers' reporting duty at 18 U.S.C. 2258A(a)(2)(A) — i.e. child sex trafficking and enticement become reportable. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| L32 | s8: "Bryant and Landman, Journal of Human Trafficking, 2020"; Charity Navigator profiles "read 5 Nov 2026" | OpenAlex; CN | "Combatting Human Trafficking since Palermo: What Do We Know about What Works?", Journal of Human Trafficking, vol. 6 issue 2, 1 March 2020. CN read today. | CONFIRMED | research; rating |
3. content/trafficking-do.html
| # | Page text | Source | Source text | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Lede: "In 2021 … 49.6 million … 27.6 million in forced labour and 22 million in forced marriage." | ILO | As L2. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D2 | Lede: "The US hotline recorded cases in every state last year, 606 of them in New York." | Hotline statistics | All 50 states + DC listed for 2025 (lowest Vermont 11); New York 606 cases. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D3 | Hotline notice (number, text, 24 hours, 200+ languages, anonymous, 911) | hotline contact; FAQs | As O2–O4. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D4 | Step costs "1 minute · $0", "10 minutes · $0", "5 minutes · any amount" | — | Site's own estimates. | OWN | — |
| D5 | "No single sign proves anything, and most situations show only a few." | DHS indicators page (live, curl) | "Remember that not all indicators listed below are present in every human trafficking situation, and the presence or absence of any of the indicators is not necessarily proof of human trafficking." | CORRECTED: first half confirmed; "most situations show only a few" is not in DHS. Fix: "No single sign proves anything, and not every sign shows up in every situation." | primary |
| D6 | Signs around a job: debt / fee "for the opportunity"; passport held; not paid / can't leave / employer housing; deportation threat; far-away job, recruiter dodges, contract in a language they can't read | Hotline Recognizing the Signs; DHS | Hotline: "Owe money to an employer or recruiter"; "collects fees from a potential worker for the 'opportunity' to work in a particular job"; "Do not have control of their passport or other identity documents"; "are not being paid what they were promised or are owed"; "Feel pressured by their employer to stay in a job or situation they want to leave"; "Are living in dangerous, overcrowded, or inhumane conditions provided by an employer"; "Are being threatened by their boss with deportation or other harm"; "a job opportunity that seems too good to be true" with a recruiter who "avoids answering their questions or is reluctant to provide detailed information about the job"; "refuses to give workers a signed contract or asks them to sign a contract in a language they can't read". DHS: "Can the person freely leave where they live?" | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D7 | Signs around a person: fast lopsided romance with gifts; "too close" online relationship; someone they defer to controls where they go / coached; teen running away, stopped school, staying with non-guardian; wants to stop selling sex / "manager"; "Any minor in commercial sex is legally a trafficking victim." | Hotline signs; DHS; 22 U.S.C. § 7102 | Hotline: "newly showered with gifts or money", "overwhelming, fast-moving, and asymmetric"; "developing a relationship that seems too close with someone they know solely on social media"; "is a frequent runaway and may be staying with someone who is not their parent or guardian"; "Want to stop participating in commercial sex but feel scared or unable to leave the situation."; "Have a 'pimp' or 'manager' in the commercial sex industry." DHS: "often in the company of someone to whom he or she defers? Or someone who seems to be in control of the situation, e.g., where they go or who they talk to?"; "Does the person appear to be coached on what to say?"; "Has a child stopped attending school?"; "Is a juvenile engaged in commercial sex acts?" Statute: "or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D8 | Myths to drop: no border or travel; control psychological; "Many victims are recruited by a partner or a family member"; consent/payment don't rule it out | Hotline Myths & Facts | "The crime of human trafficking does not require any movement whatsoever."; "Most human traffickers use psychological means such as tricking, defrauding, manipulating or threatening victims."; "Many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents."; "Initial consent to commercial sex or a labor setting prior to acts of force, fraud, or coercion" is "not relevant to the crime, nor is payment." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D9 | How to report: 911; call/text; "chat" (linked to /en/contact); web form "(not for anything urgent or in the last 24 hours)" | Hotline contact; report form; chat page | Form: "if the situation is urgent or occurred within the last 24 hours we would encourage you to call, text or chat." Chat lives at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/chat ("If live chat is unavailable, please call us 24/7 at 1-888-373-7888."); the contact page links to it. | CONFIRMED — suggest linking "chat" to /en/chat directly. | primary |
| D10 | "A child exploited online: NCMEC's CyberTipline, or 1-800-843-5678." | NCMEC CyberTipline page; hotline form | CyberTipline: "1-800-843-5678" ("24-Hour Hotline"); reports at https://report.cybertip.org. Hotline form: "If the exploitation is online, involves children, and the location is unknown, report to NCMEC instead." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D11 | "You were hit by an online scam: report it at ic3.gov. Many scam operations run on trafficked workers." | TIP 2026 | "Report it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at https://www.ic3.gov/ ."; "scam operations continue to rely on the exploitation of trafficking victims". IC3 home: "The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D12 | "Report what you saw yourself. The hotline already knows about viral posts." | Hotline report form | "We are aware of viral content being shared on social media and have provided the information to law enforcement. Please only submit this form in regards to viral content if you have information regarding a specific victim or survivor." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D13 | "A trained advocate answers. A supervisor reviews every tip before anything leaves the hotline. For adults, the hotline won't act without the person's own consent, except where a minor or someone in immediate danger is involved. Calls aren't recorded and you can stay anonymous. You won't get updates; if you learn more, call again." | Hotline FAQs; When You Reach Us; Confidentiality | FAQs: "Your call will be answered live by a specially trained Anti-Trafficking Hotline Advocate."; "Every case received through the Hotline, email, or online tip report is individually reviewed and evaluated by a Supervisor to determine whether it should be passed on to an appropriate local, state, or federal investigative and/or service agency."; "The Trafficking Hotline does not record hotline calls."; "If a case is reported to law enforcement, the Trafficking Hotline cannot provide updates on the status of the case. If you receive additional information about the case, contact the Trafficking Hotline again and we can send a supplemental report to law enforcement." When You Reach Us: "Except in situations involving potential abuse of a minor or if we believe a person is in imminent danger, the Trafficking Hotline will not take action without the consent of the person in the situation." | CONFIRMED — citation gap: the supervisor, no-updates and live-answer sentences are on the FAQs page (https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/about-us/hotline-faqs), which s6 does not list. Add it. | primary |
| D14a | "The hotline changed operators in December 2025: Compass Connections took over from Polaris." | Polaris 8 Dec 2025; hotline FAQs | As L12b (contest: FAQ says Compass "began operation … in September 2025"). | CONFIRMED (contest kept; same wording fix as L12b) | primary |
| D14b | "The number … unchanged when we checked." | hotline contact | "1-888-373-7888". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D14c | "the confidentiality rules were unchanged when we checked" | Confidentiality policy (today) vs Polaris-era text | Today's policy: "does not release any identifying information about a caller" without "explicit consent", exceptions for "the suspected abuse of a minor, potential harm to you or others" and legal requirement; "does not record hotline calls"; "will use caller ID in rare circumstances when it is believed that the caller is in imminent danger". No archived copy could be read (web.archive.org unreachable), so "unchanged" cannot be verified; only the current text can. | UNFETCHABLE (the comparison). Fix: "The number is unchanged, and the confidentiality policy as published on 5 Nov 2026 still says nothing identifying leaves without your consent, except where a minor or someone in imminent danger is involved." | primary |
| D15 | "The ICE tip line (1-866-347-2423) is a different thing: it goes straight to an immigration enforcement agency." | DHS indicators page (ice.gov/tips unfetchable) | "Call 1-866-347-2423 to report suspicious criminal activity to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tip Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year."; "The NHTH is not a law enforcement or immigration authority". | CONFIRMED (via DHS; uncited on the page — add s4) | primary |
| D16 | "A review of the whole field found evaluations mostly measure activity, not outcomes." | Bryant & Landman 2020 | As L21. | CONFIRMED | research |
| D17 | "Sanctuary for Families: free legal help, counselling and shelter for survivors of trafficking and gender violence, whatever their immigration status." (link /donate/) | sanctuaryforfamilies.org home; donate (301 → convio) | Home: "New York's leading service provider and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking and related forms of gender violence"; services listed: legal services, counseling and crisis intervention, shelter services; "services are free and available to all survivors living in New York City"; available regardless of "marital or immigration status"; "more than 9,200 survivors … every year". Donate page: monthly option "Yes, automatically repeat this gift every month." | CONFIRMED (the /donate/ link redirects, 301, to secure2.convio.net — works) | charity's own figures |
| D18 | "Restore NYC, monthly: housing, counselling and jobs for survivors of sex and labour trafficking." | restorenyc.org give-monthly; home; what-we-do; our-impact; what-is-trafficking | Give-monthly: "your monthly gift directly impacts the life of a survivor"; "trauma informed counseling", "a safe haven through secure housing", "economic empowerment". Site: "Restore NYC is a nonprofit organization making freedom real for survivors of trafficking in the United States." The what-is-trafficking page gives sex-trafficking statistics; the phrase "labor trafficking" appears on none of the five pages read. | NOT IN SOURCE ("sex and labour"). Fix: "for survivors of trafficking." | charity's own figures |
| D19 | "GEMS: survivor-led services for girls and young women." | gems-girls.org donate; home; our-mission | Mission: "empower girls and young women, ages 12–29, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking"; home: "In 1998, Rachel Lloyd founded GEMS to give the girls and young women of NYC who had been commercially sexually exploited a place for support"; "Survivor Leadership" is named as a foundational principle; "survivor-led" is not stated on the pages read. Donate: "The easiest way to support GEMS? Monthly donations." | CORRECTED (minor): Fix: "GEMS: services built on survivor leadership for girls and young women, 12–29, who have been commercially sexually exploited." | charity's own figures |
| D20 | "The Freedom Fund backs frontline groups in hotspot countries. Since 2016 it counts someone as freed only if they also got follow-up support, the strictest rule we found." | freedomfund.org/impact/ | "Across ten hotspots spanning Asia, Africa, and Latin America, partners made concrete gains"; footnote to "40,463 People liberated": "Number of people liberated from any form of slavery, be it through gradual change of circumstance or shorter 'rescue event'… From July 2016 onwards, only people liberated with follow-up services to sustain their recovery are counted." Impact period "January 2014 - June 2026". | CONFIRMED (July 2016; "strictest we found" is OWN). See P13 on monthly giving. | charity's own figures |
| D21a | "The Exodus Road … run[s] investigations alongside local police." | theexodusroad.com/donate/ | "partner with law enforcement to fight human trafficking crime"; intervention: undercover investigators work with police to find victims, gather evidence and free survivors. Monthly giving section present ("Send Freedom and Urgent Care to Trafficked People Every Month"). | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures |
| D21b | "International Justice Mission run[s] investigations alongside local police." (link https://www.ijm.org/donate) | ijm.org | ijm.org/donate: HTTP 402 (WebFetch) / 403 (curl); ijm.org home 403. Nearest text, secondary: Charity Navigator's profile quotes "IJM's mission is to protect people in poverty from violence by rescuing victims, bringing the criminals to justice". Whether the donate page offers monthly giving could not be checked. | UNFETCHABLE — label the IJM line as unverified or cite Charity Navigator's mission excerpt as the only readable source. | — |
| D21c | "Both score well on financial accountability" | Charity Navigator | TER: 98%, Four-Star, Accountability & Finance metrics 100% (FY2025). IJM: 97%, Four-Star, Accountability & Finance 100%, "1 of 4 BEACONS COMPLETED" (FY2025). | CONFIRMED ("neither has an independent evaluation … we could find" is OWN) | rating |
| D22a | "For teenage boys, the most common threat now is financial sextortion" | NCMEC Sextortion page | "NCMEC has seen a dramatic increase in sextortion cases being reported to our CyberTipline, especially financial sextortion… Teenage boys have been the most common targets in these recent cases." CyberTipline data page: "Many of them continue to involve teenage boys being targeted." | CORRECTED: the source says teenage boys are the most common targets of financial sextortion; it does not rank threats to boys. Fix: "Financial sextortion, where someone gets an intimate image and demands money, now targets teenage boys more than anyone else, NCMEC says." | primary |
| D22b | "NCMEC received about 137 reports a day in 2025." | NCMEC CyberTipline data 2025 | Financial sextortion: an average of 137 reports per day, a 37% increase over the prior year; "more than 80,000 reports concerning sextortion" within 1.4 million online-enticement reports. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D23 | Teen script: "You won't be in trouble; the blackmailer is to blame." / "Don't pay. Paying rarely stops it." / "Block, but don't delete. The messages are evidence." / "Taken under 18? Take It Down gets it removed from participating sites without the image ever leaving your phone. Then report to the CyberTipline." | NCMEC Sextortion; NetSmartz; Take It Down | "Remember, the blackmailer is to blame, not you."; NetSmartz: "Remember it is not your fault." (no NCMEC page read says "won't be in trouble" — that clause is the page's own script); "Get help before deciding whether to pay money or otherwise comply with the blackmailer. Cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail."; "BLOCK the suspect but DO NOT DELETE your profile or messages because that can be helpful in stopping the blackmailer."; Take It Down: for images "taken when they were under the age of 18"; "Your image or video remains on your device and is not uploaded."; "Take It Down will work on public or unencrypted online platforms that have agreed to participate."; "Take It Down is a free service." | CONFIRMED (note on "won't be in trouble": page's own words, consistent with NCMEC's "not your fault") | primary |
| D24 | "Buy Fair Food tomatoes. Buyers in the Fair Food Program sign binding agreements to stop buying from growers who abuse workers … though it covers only some produce." | fairfoodprogram.org/about/, home, buyers | About: "Participating Buyers in the Fair Food Program commit to paying the Fair Food Premium on top of the regular price they pay for tomatoes."; "The Fair Food Code of Conduct is backed by binding agreements between CIW and many buyers of produce… Participating Buyers are required to suspend purchases from growers who have failed to comply with the Code of Conduct."; "resulting in unprecedented reforms in Florida's tomato industry, including the successful elimination of forced labor in the fields." Buyers page logos: Ahold, Aramark, Bon Appetit, Burger King, Chipotle, Compass Group, Fresh Market, McDonald's, Sodexo, Subway, Trader Joe's, Walmart, Whole Foods, Yum; text names Soupergirl. | CONFIRMED — note: the pages read do not list which crops/states beyond tomatoes/Florida, and no shopper-facing label text was found (the "FFP Label and Marketing" footer link resolves to 404). "Covers only some produce" is supported in substance, not quantified. | programme's own figures |
| D25 | "Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC asks for two outings a month for at least a year. Mentoring has modest, real effects on school and drugs; nobody has shown it prevents trafficking itself." | bigsnyc.org volunteer-sign; Raposa et al. 2019 (Europe PMC); bbbs.org/impact | BBBS NYC: "Bigs commit to two outings a month."; "We ask for a minimum one-year commitment." Raposa: "Analysis of 70 mentoring outcome studies, with a sample size of 25,286 youth (average age of 12 years old), yielded a statistically significant effect of mentoring programs across all youth outcomes" … "the need to remain realistic about the modest impact of these programs as currently implemented." BBBS (P/PV 1995): "46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs", "52% less likely to skip school". | CONFIRMED (the "nobody has shown" clause is OWN) | primary; research |
| D26 | Q&A: "In 2025 the hotline logged 52,664 contacts and identified 15,085 cases." | hotline statistics | As L9. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D27 | Q&A: "a supervisor reviews each one, and adults' consent governs what happens next." | hotline FAQs; When You Reach Us | As D13. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D28 | Q&A "Do these charities actually free people?" | — | Site's own judgement. | OWN | — |
| D29a | Q&A: "Labels and audits miss forced labour." (cited to s11: Fair Food results/buyers; DOL list) | s11 sources; LeBaron 2021 (OpenAlex) | Neither s11 source says this. FFP about: the Program is "Unlike many traditional Corporate Social Responsibility models, and even many multi-stakeholder certification programs that rely on social auditing". DOL: the List "is not intended to be punitive", kept "primarily to raise public awareness". The research file's actual source, LeBaron 2021 (J. Supply Chain Management 57(2), 15 Jan 2021), finds "serious gaps between corporate social responsibility standards and business practices" on indicators most relevant to forced labour. | NOT IN SOURCE as cited. Fix: add LeBaron 2021 (doi:10.1111/jscm.12258, research) to s11, or soften to "Audit-based labels have missed forced labour." | research |
| D29b | Q&A: "What has worked is enforceable: buyers who must stop buying when workers are abused, and government import bans." | FFP about; TIP 2025 | FFP: "Participating Buyers are required to suspend purchases…" (D24). TIP 2025: "Some governments have taken actions to prevent goods made with forced labor from entering their markets by enacting laws to prohibit imports of such goods… such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act"; describes Section 307, Withhold Release Orders, the UFLPA's "rebuttable" presumption and EU/Canada/Mexico equivalents. | CONFIRMED that the mechanisms exist (TIP 2025, uncited — add); "has worked" for import bans is the page's judgement, not an evaluation finding. | primary |
| D30 | Q&A: "Worldwide, forced labour has overtaken sexual exploitation among detected victims, 42% to 36%. US hotline reports still run the other way." | GLOTIP; hotline | As L3, L9. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D31a | Q&A: "The number, text line and published confidentiality rules were the same on 5 Nov 2026." | hotline contact; confidentiality | Number and text line present today. "The same" as before cannot be verified (D14c). | UNFETCHABLE (the comparison; same fix as D14c) | primary |
| D31b | Q&A: "The operator changed in December 2025, after state attorneys general pushed for more sharing with police." | AG letter to HHS 15 Apr 2025 (PDF); NAAG; Polaris 22 Sep and 8 Dec 2025 | Letter (April 15, 2025, to Secretary Kennedy): "it was discovered a few years ago that the organization awarded the grant to run the Hotline, Polaris, was no longer sharing tips from concerned citizens and distressed family members with local law enforcement"; "we urge you to ensure that the organization that is awarded the grant for the National Human Trafficking Hotline demonstrates its commitment to being a partner to our offices and local law enforcement with timely reports of trafficking tips." NAAG: "41 State and Territory Attorneys General". Polaris 22 Sep 2025: HHS "has awarded the cooperative agreement for operating the National Human Trafficking Hotline to another organization." 8 Dec 2025: transfer complete. | CONFIRMED as a sequence (letter → award → transfer); no source states causation. Uncited on the page — add the letter (primary) to s6. | primary |
| D32 | AI prompts: hotline number; "Don't suggest I confront anyone" | hotline; DHS | DHS: "Do not at any time attempt to confront a suspected trafficker directly or alert a victim to your suspicions. Your safety as well as the victim's safety is paramount." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| D33a | s3: UNODC GLOTIP 2024 "December 2024 (2022 data). A 2026 edition is in preparation." | GLOTIP PDF; UNODC landing page (curl) | "© United Nations, December 2024."; landing page lists the 2024 report as current and invites researchers "to contribute to the 2026 edition of the UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons… Selected submission(s) will be featured in the 2026 edition". No 2026 release listed. | CONFIRMED (not out as of 2026-11-05) | primary |
| D33b | s4: DHS Blue Campaign, "Indicators of human trafficking, updated 30 May 2024 (read from an archived copy)." | DHS page, live (curl 200) | Title now "How to Identify and Report Human Trafficking"; "Last Updated: 11/18/2025". Content read today, no archive needed (WebFetch gets 403; a browser gets the page). | NEWER DATA: Fix: "DHS Blue Campaign, How to Identify and Report Human Trafficking, updated 18 Nov 2025." Drop "(read from an archived copy)". | primary |
| D33c | s11: US DOL "List of goods produced by child labor or forced labor, September 2024" | dol.gov | "comprises 204 goods from 82 countries and areas, as of September 5, 2024."; "ILAB now updates and publishes the List every other year"; "it is not intended to be punitive"; maintained "primarily to raise public awareness". No 2026 edition shown yet. | CONFIRMED (a 2026 edition is due on the stated cadence; not yet posted) | primary |
| D33d | s12: "Raposa et al., meta-analysis of 70 mentoring studies, 2019"; BBBS impact; BBBS NYC | Europe PMC; bbbs.org; bigsnyc.org | "The Effects of Youth Mentoring Programs: A Meta-analysis of Outcome Studies", J. Youth and Adolescence 48(3):423–443, 2019; "70 mentoring outcome studies". | CONFIRMED | research |
| D33e | s1, s2, s5, s6, s7, s8, s9, s10 dates and attributions | as above | ILO Sept 2022 ✓; hotline stats 2025 + prevalence note ✓; hotline signs/myths ✓; When you reach us / Confidentiality / About us / Polaris ✓ (add FAQs); TIP 2026 "8 October 2026" ✓; NCMEC data 2025 + Sextortion ✓; Bryant & Landman 2020 + CN ✓; Freedom Fund impact ✓. | CONFIRMED | — |
4. content/trafficking-practice.html
| # | Page text | Source | Source text | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | "the hotline, which exists for uncertain tips" | hotline FAQs | Nearest: "Each tip is unique and reporting decisions are made on a case-by-case basis". Characterisation is the site's own. | OWN | — |
| P2a | Drill 1: "A debt to the recruiter and a recruiter who dodges questions are both on the hotline's list." | Hotline Recognizing the Signs | "Owe money to an employer or recruiter"; recruiter "avoids answering their questions or is reluctant to provide detailed information about the job". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P2b | Drill 1: "advocates will talk through a job offer before anyone travels." | Hotline Get Help; About us; FAQs | Get Help: "If you would like to discuss creating a safety plan, contact the hotline for help at 1-888-373-7888"; "We do not have the capacity to answer general questions about trafficking or volunteering."; contact the hotline "about potential trafficking situations only". About us: "connects them with vetted services and supports around the country." No page says advocates assess job offers. | NOT IN SOURCE. Fix: "Give your coworker the hotline number: it takes reports of potential situations and can help with a safety plan, though it says it can't answer general questions." | primary |
| P3 | Drill 2: three signs (older adult, gifts, stopped school); "she's a minor, so the hotline can act without her consent"; "Don't confront the man." | Hotline signs; DHS; When You Reach Us; chat page | Signs as D7; DHS "Has a child stopped attending school?"; consent exception "Except in situations involving potential abuse of a minor…"; chat page: "if you provide any details about someone under the age of 18 who is engaging in commercial sex or who is in danger, or if you or someone else is in immediate danger, we must report to law enforcement."; DHS: "Do not at any time attempt to confront a suspected trafficker directly or alert a victim to your suspicions." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P4 | Drill 3: control signs — "someone else holding their ID, debt to the employer, not being allowed to leave, fear of deportation" | Hotline signs | As D6. (The ethnicity-report warning is the site's own.) | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P5a | Drill 4: "Trafficking almost never looks like a stranger abduction" | Hotline Myths & Facts | "By far the most pervasive myth" is that trafficking "involves kidnapping or otherwise physically forcing someone into a situation"; "Most human traffickers use psychological means…" | CONFIRMED in substance; "almost never" outruns "most … psychological". Suggest "rarely". | primary |
| P5b | Drill 4: "most victims are recruited by someone they know" | Hotline Myths & Facts | "Many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents." | CORRECTED: "many", not "most". Fix: "many victims are recruited by someone they know". | primary |
| P5c | Drill 4: "most control is psychological. The hotline already knows about the viral posts." | Myths; report form | "Most human traffickers use psychological means…"; "We are aware of viral content being shared on social media and have provided the information to law enforcement." | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P6 | Drill 5: "She's an adult, so the hotline won't act without her consent; it will talk to her, and it won't record the call. … the text line, 233733." | When You Reach Us; FAQs; contact | Consent rule (D13); "The Trafficking Hotline does not record hotline calls."; "Text* 233733". | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P7 | Drill 6: "Domestic work was the largest labour-trafficking venue in US hotline cases in 2025." / "You can stay anonymous." | hotline statistics; FAQs | Labor trafficking venues 2025: "Domestic work 617" (next: illicit activity 163, restaurant/food service 157, construction 147, agriculture 133); the catch-all "Other" is 833. FAQs: "You can report a tip anonymously." | CONFIRMED — caveat: "Other" (833) exceeds domestic work; say "the largest named venue". | primary |
| P8 | Rhythm times: "Ten minutes", "the drill takes five minutes" | — | Site's own. Inconsistent with the overview's "A drill · 10 minutes" (O5). | OWN (fix the mismatch) | — |
| P9 | "January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the US." (research grade M — added from memory) | Federal Register API; White House; Congress.gov | FR proclamations each January since 2010: newest "National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2025" (doc 2025-00078, signed December 30, 2024); 2017–2021 titled "National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month". No 2026 proclamation is in the Federal Register (searches on both titles, newest-first). Instead the White House posted a "Presidential Message on National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month", January 6, 2026: "This National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, my Administration renews our commitment to end the evil of human trafficking…". H.Res.1024, introduced January 30, 2026: "Expressing support for the designation of January 2026 as 'National Human Trafficking Prevention Month'". | CONFIRMED (now primary, not memory). Note the name varies by administration; 2026 was marked by a presidential message, not a proclamation. Suggested wording: "January is National (Slavery and) Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the US." Add the FR/White House sources. | primary |
| P10 | "re-read the hotline's confidentiality policy (it changed operators in December 2025), and check whether the UN's next global report is out." | Polaris; hotline FAQs; UNODC landing | Operator: as L12b (contest). UNODC: 2026 edition in preparation, not out. | CONFIRMED (contest kept on the month) | primary |
| P11 | "buy a week's tomatoes from a Fair Food Program buyer and tell the store why." | FFP about; buyers | Tomatoes: "the regular price they pay for tomatoes"; retail buyers listed include Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, Ahold. | CONFIRMED ("the one shopping choice with teeth" is OWN) | programme's own figures |
| P12 | Thirty seconds: "Worldwide it's more often forced labour than sex … 1-888-373-7888, or text 233733; a trained person answers and you can stay anonymous." | GLOTIP; hotline | As L3, D13, O2–O3. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| P13 | Checklist: "Monthly gift to recovery: Sanctuary for Families, Restore NYC, GEMS or the Freedom Fund." (and Do step 3 "Pay for recovery, monthly") | the four donate pages | Sanctuary: "Yes, automatically repeat this gift every month." Restore: "your monthly gift". GEMS: "The easiest way to support GEMS? Monthly donations." Freedom Fund donate page: payment tabs "Card" and "Crypto", amounts $100/$250/$500/"Other"; no monthly or recurring option; the page's Gravity Forms Stripe feed is configured "transactionType":"product", "recurringAmount":""; the only "monthly" on the site's fetched pages is "Sign up to receive the monthly bulletin!" | CORRECTED: the Freedom Fund offers one-time gifts only on its donate page. Fix: "Monthly gift to recovery: Sanctuary for Families, Restore NYC or GEMS (the Freedom Fund takes one-time gifts)." | charity's own figures |
| P14a | s1: "DHS Blue Campaign, Indicators, May 2024 (archived copy)" | DHS live page | "Last Updated: 11/18/2025"; readable today. | NEWER DATA (same fix as D33b) | primary |
| P14b | s4: "Statistics, 2025: domestic work 617 labour cases, the largest venue." | hotline statistics | "Domestic work 617"; "Other 833". | CONFIRMED (caveat as P7) | primary |
| P14c | s2, s3, s5 | hotline; FFP | When you reach us / Confidentiality ✓; Myths ✓; FFP results/buyers ✓ (the results page's figures are script-rendered and blank in text; the claims cited to it are supported by the about page). | CONFIRMED | — |
5. tools/essays.py — CORRECTIONS["trafficking"]
| # | Box text | Source | Source text | Verdict | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | "'Two-thirds of cases involved online recruitment' and 'nearly forty percent of those arrested were women' describe one organisation's 2025 cases, not global data. Worldwide, women were 28% of convicted traffickers." | TER page/PDF; GLOTIP 2024 | "Two-thirds of our 2025 cases involved online recruitment"; "Nearly 40% of arrested traffickers in 2025 were women" (100 of 262); GLOTIP "28 % of traffickers convicted are women". | CONFIRMED | charity's own figures; primary |
| C2 | "Worldwide, forced labour has overtaken sexual exploitation among detected victims, 42% to 36%. US hotline reports still show more sex trafficking." | GLOTIP; hotline | As L3, L9. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| C3 | "61% of detected victims are women and girls. 'Overwhelmingly' fits sexual exploitation, where it's about four in five." | GLOTIP preface; ILO | "accounting for 61% of the total in 2022"; ILO "nearly four out of every five". | CONFIRMED — note: UNODC's detected sexual-exploitation victims are 92% female ("64 % women", "28% girls"); "about four in five" is the ILO estimate. | primary |
| C4 | "The fifty-million estimate is for 2021, the latest there is. The 2026 State Department report lists 12 state-sponsor countries, down from 13." | ILO; TIP 2026/2025 | As L2, L12a. | CONFIRMED | primary |
| C5 | "The hotline number is unchanged, but Polaris stopped running it in December 2025." | hotline contact; Polaris 8 Dec 2025; hotline FAQs | "1-888-373-7888"; Polaris "no longer holds any operational role in the Hotline" (8 Dec 2025); FAQ: Compass "began operation … in September 2025". | CONFIRMED (contest kept, as L12b) | primary |
6. Dated items (source/stale.tsv) — status today
| Item | Status on 2026-11-05 |
|---|---|
2027-01-31 trafficking/learn — UNODC 2026 Global Report: check for release | Not released. UNODC's landing page (https://www.unodc.org/unodc/data-and-analysis/glotip.html) lists the 2024 report as current and describes the 2026 edition as forthcoming (open call for contributions). Rows L3, L5–L8, L16, L18, D30, C1–C3 will need re-checking when it lands. Note: UNODC serves 404 to WebFetch's client for both the landing page and the PDF; a browser user-agent gets 200. |
| TIP Report | 2026 edition released 8 Oct 2026 (confirmed); the 2027 edition is expected around late 2027. |
| ILO/Walk Free/IOM estimates | Still the September 2022 edition (2021 data). Only a methodology volume (9 Oct 2025) is newer. |
| DOL List of Goods | Still "as of September 5, 2024"; DOL says it updates "every other year", so a 2026 edition is due but not posted. |
| Hotline statistics page | Shows full-2025 totals under a note saying data were "retrieved on April 22, 2025". Live page; re-read before quoting. |
| Hotline operator | Compass Connections; the hotline's FAQ says it "began operation … in September 2025"; Polaris's release says the handover completed 8 Dec 2025. |
| DHS indicators page | "Last Updated: 11/18/2025" — later than the pages' "30 May 2024". |
| January observance | 2026 marked by a White House presidential message (6 Jan 2026), not a Federal Register proclamation; the name used was "National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month". |
7. Arithmetic the pages do
| Where | Computation | Holds? |
|---|---|---|
| Learn fact 3 | 74,785 ÷ 27,600,000 = 0.27% → "a fraction of one percent" | Yes (with the apples/oranges note in L5) |
| Learn fact 4 | 22% girls + 16% boys = 38% children | Yes |
| Learn fact 5 | 39% women + 22% girls = 61% female | Yes |
| Learn fact 6 | 100 of 262 = 38.2% → "nearly 40%" | Yes |
| Learn fact 9 / C4 | 13 (2025) − Syria = 12 (2026); lists otherwise identical | Yes |
| Learn fact 2 (implicit) | UNODC shares 42 + 36 + 8 + 8 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 100 | Yes |
| Learn fact 7 | 6,201 sex > 2,400 labour (plus 1,607 both) of 15,085 cases | Yes |
| Practice drill 6 | Domestic work 617 is the largest named labour venue; "Other" is 833 | Qualify the wording |
| Overview vs Practice | Drill "10 minutes" vs "five minutes" | No — internal mismatch |
8. Summary by verdict
Counted over the numbered rows above (OWN rows excluded from the verdict count; split rows a/b/c counted separately).
| Verdict | Count |
|---|---|
| CONFIRMED | 89 |
| CORRECTED | 8 |
| NOT IN SOURCE | 4 |
| UNFETCHABLE | 3 |
| NEWER DATA | 2 |
| OWN (site's own estimate/judgement; not counted) | 7 |
113 numbered rows in all (106 verdicts + 7 OWN).
CORRECTED (8): L11b, L20, L28, D5, D19, D22a, P5b, P13. NOT IN SOURCE (4): L10, D18, D29a, P2b. UNFETCHABLE (3): D14c, D21b, D31a. NEWER DATA (2): D33b, P14a. Contest kept (confirmed, but two primary sources disagree on the month): L12b, D14a, P10, C5 — hotline FAQ "September 2025" vs Polaris "8 December 2025". Citation gaps (claim confirmed, source not on the page): L13 (statute), L15 (UNODC FAQ), D13 (hotline FAQs), D15 (DHS), D29b (TIP 2025), D31b (AG letter), P9 (FR / White House).
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