This Facebook ring, however, functions at the virtual level where the mere search of certain words like pleasure, sex, or secrecy transports a potential client into a sexual paradise. Like any market, this one follows the rules of supply and demand, beginning virtually and ending with a real sexual encounter. Online prostitution first appeared in Tunis around , with pages like this one witnessing a surge of popularity, reflected in the numbers of both followers and their posted comments.
Most followers are mainly young and middle-aged men eager to dive into what society has always deemed taboo. Now, this forbidden world is only a click away β one message to the administrator and negotiations begin to set a price, place, and date. A quick view on some of these markets clearly reveal its surging popularity among young men and women. Dozens of other pages with more flagrant names have no fewer than 3, likes each, let alone the closed groups, which have hundreds of members. It is nearly impossible to have an accurate number of virtual sex trafficking networks due to two main reasons: First, these pages arise fast but are shut down even faster when reporting campaigns against them are launched by other Facebook users.
Second, because many of these pages are fake. To get to know the virtual sex trade better, tour correspondent set up a fake Facebook account, and in a four-week investigation period, sent dozens of messages to different pages requesting sex services with various requirements payment range, requested features about the sex partner, etc and replies from these pages soon arrived.
First, the correspondent had to declare his age, nationality, residence details and the features of his desired partner. Finally, phone numbers were exchanged and an intermediary aranged the date and place of the encounter. Sometimes, a sex worker might individually contact a potential client and send a phone number. The correspondent posted this on several pages and closed groups that function as a virtual market for the sex trade. Without any introduction, the man shot off several questions: Did he the correspondent want quick sex or did he want to spend a whole night?
How much money did he have for the exchange and did he have any sexually transmitted diseases? The appointment ended, the features of the girl and the time and place were set. Of his network of five sex workers, a young woman, alias Sony, was to be the partner and the encounter was set to take place in Al-Zahraa area in the capital two days later.
