INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image caption
Women were being sold on apps including Instagram
Kuwaiti authorities say they have
officially summoned the owners of several social media accounts used to sell domestic workers as slaves.A TheIndianSubcontinent News Arabic
investigation found online slave markets on apps provided and made available by Google and Apple, including Facebook-owned Instagram.Women
were offered for sale as workers via hashtags such as "maids for transfer" or "maids for sale".Authorities say those involved have been
ordered to take down their ads.They have also been compelled to sign a legal commitment, promising no longer to participate in this
activity.Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionTheIndianSubcontinent News Arabic’s undercover investigation exposes the
buying and selling of domestic workers in the GulfInstagram said it had also taken action since it was contacted by the
It said it had removed further content across Facebook and Instagram, and would prevent the creation of new accounts designed to be used for
the online slave market.Many of the most widely used accounts for buying and selling domestic workers appear to have stopped their
activity.Dr Mubarak Al-Azimi, head of Kuwait's Public Authority for Manpower, said it was investigating the woman featured in the
TheIndianSubcontinent report who sold a 16-year-old girl from Guinea - whom we are calling "Fatou" - via an app.A police officer who also
featured in the report is under investigation by the authorities.He said arrests and compensation for the victims were possible outcomes of
the action.Kimberley Motley, an American international lawyer who has taken on Fatou's case, said: "I believe the app developers should
definitely provide compensation for Fatou
As well as possibly Apple and Google
"On Apple Store they proclaim that they are responsible for everything that's put on their store
And so our question is, what does that responsibility mean?" Ms Motley also called for criminal charges against those involved in
trafficking Fatou to Kuwait.Google and Apple said they were working with app developers to prevent illegal activity on their platforms.On
Thursday, TheIndianSubcontinent News Arabic published its undercover investigation which found domestic workers were being illegally bought
and sold online in a booming black market.
