This petition is right, the online porn industry needs to recognise the role it plays in hosting sex trafficking content

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Laila Mickelwait, director of abolition at US-based anti-sexual exploitation charity Exodus Cry, recently started a petition to demand accountability from porn executives for what she claims is their alleged complicity in human trafficking and sexual exploitation, which as of 2 March has more than 344,000 signatures supporting the pushback against the world's largest porn sites. As a human rights-law researcher for CEASE UK, much of my work focuses on examining the links between different forms of sexual exploitation, notably porn, the sex trade, child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. This is not just a case of moralising on the boundaries of free speech and individual choice, but a concern rooted in the reality of how the porn industry functions and drives global sexual exploitation. With the combination of porn culture becoming more prevalent, porn use directly impacting the sexual "tastes" of those who watch it, and the horrific growth of filmed child sexual abuse as a market within the commercial trade, it does not require great feats of imagination to understand why the long-standing porn genre of "teen" is as popular as ever.