Sex trade on social network sites on the rise in UAE

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are frequently being used by escort services and call girls to hook up with clients in UAE.

An XPRESS investigation revealed that the sites are fast becoming hotspots for sex trade.

Following a crackdown on their websites, a large number of escort services have now flocked to these popular sites to market themselves and hook up with potential clients in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman and Sharjah.

Some have even set up their own Facebook homepages and groups with local cell phone numbers of their representatives displayed prominently alongside titillating images.

To maximise visibility, escort agencies have uploaded videos and slides of their girls, interspersed with steamy Hollywood and Bollywood clips on YouTube.

While scenes and themes change, the only thing that remains constant on the screen is the local contact number.

For Internet regulators, the ease with which "pleasure providers" are able to connect with "clients" is worrying, considering their efforts to keep cyberspace clean.

For years now, the UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) is the government-appointed body responsible for ensuring that Internet subject matter and imagery involving sex, racism, hate crimes and terrorism are not disseminated in the country.

While actual figures are hard to get by, an escort agent requesting anonymity said they are soliciting more clients since they moved business on Facebook.

Micro-blogging service Twitter too commands a huge presence, with at least six escort agencies, with some with over 200 followers, advertising on it.

The TRA classifies the use of social media for the flesh trade under the Prohibited Content Categories, specifically "Dating".

"The licensees are required to block access to these types of pages and they are actually implementing that on many of them," Gulf News quoted the TRA as saying in an e-mail statement to XPRESS.

"If any internet user reported such pages to the licensees, the licensees will block it in accordance with the current procedures. Depending on the type of the case and the violation, there are other authorities who are responsible for prosecuting offenders and violators which the TRA fully cooperate with and support to enforce the laws," it added.

According to major Saeed Al Hajiri, director of electronic crimes, Dubai police, if they come across a cyber crime related to Facebook they will certainly investigate it.