From social media to artificial intelligence: tactics used to lure and exploit victims of child trafficking and for curbing child trafficking in Kenya

Child trafficking is increasingly mediated through social media, artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies, creating new opportunities for exploitation while strengthening digital prevention and protection. This study examines how digital platforms both facilitate and disrupt technology-enabled child trafficking in Kenya through a digital ethnography that combines social media observations, stakeholder interviews, focus group discussions and analysis of online anti-trafficking discourse. Guided by the Routine Activity and Situational Prevention (RASP) framework, the study investigates how digital opportunity structures shape offender behavior, target vulnerability and distributed digital guardianship. Findings show that traffickers exploit encrypted messaging, algorithmic recommendation systems, livestreaming, closed online communities and digital payment technologies to recruit, groom, coordinate and exploit children while reducing the perceived risk of detection. At the same time, government agencies, law enforcement, civil society organizations, technology companies and community actors employ artificial intelligence, digital evidence preservation, coordinated reporting systems, cross-sector partnerships and the Child Protection Information Management System (CPIMS) to strengthen detection, reporting, victim protection and institutional coordination. The study further demonstrates that anti-child trafficking communication is most effective when it transforms awareness into recognizable risk patterns, actionable reporting pathways, evidence preservation and coordinated institutional responses. The findings extend the RASP framework by conceptualizing the 5 P dimensions (Prevention, Protection, Policy, Prosecution and Partnership) as communication dimensions that operationalize digital guardianship within technology-enabled environments. The study contributes to digital criminology, communication, child protection, platform governance and technology-enabled crime prevention, particularly in the Global South.