Michigan non-profits are looking into an innovative way of fighting human trafficking. The idea is to take advantage of free advertising on Google.
Google offers thousands of dollars in free advertising to non-profits. The Michigan Human Trafficking Commission and a state police taskforce are working on gathering as many non-profits as possible to apply for the advertising with one goal in mind – deter people who search for paid sex from following through.
Kathy Maitland is a member of the committee and the taskforce. She says some people, like those with sex addictions, don’t realize the harm they are causing by using escort services.
“Some of them do care and don’t like what they’re into but don’t see a way out. And so this is kind of opening that door.”
When a person searches certain keywords, ads will pop up saying things like “this is not a victimless crime.” The ads lead to a site with more information.