In today’s far-flung global supply chains, it’s difficult to know who is actually involved in producing or providing the goods and services that are part and parcel of modern life. Therein lies a problem. Though we all like to assume that the participants are doing the work by choice, that’s not always the case. Sadly, there are still operations where people are forced to work against their will. And it’s not just in remote corners of our planet. Some of it is happening right under our noses.
Understanding where and why it happens are keys to combating this human suffering. And that is why organizations like Dark Watch exist. Dark Watch is a data company that combats human trafficking by using digital intelligence to detect and track the criminal organizations that exploit victims through force, fraud, and coercion. Its mission is to help companies identify risks in their supply chains.
Dark Watch was founded in 2024 by Noel Thomas, who serves as the company’s CEO. In that role, he leads the development of powerful platforms to help supply chain professionals, law enforcement, financial institutions, and the hospitality industry detect trafficking patterns, trace illicit financial flows, and take informed, proactive action. These tools are transforming how front-line professionals identify, investigate, and respond to organized exploitation.
Before founding Dark Watch, Thomas served as Florida’s statewide counter-trafficking coordinator, where he successfully united law enforcement agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and government offices to expose trafficking networks and strengthen survivor support systems. His early work with the missionary groups Operation Mobilization and Youth With A Mission (YWAM) gave him firsthand insight into the international scale of trafficking and the urgent need for scalable, tech-enabled solutions.
Thomas spoke recently with Dave Maloney, DC Velocity’s group editorial director, about how he got into the field, the prevalence of the forced-labor problem, and what we can all do to defeat the practice.
Q: To begin, could you tell me about Dark Watch and what it does?
A: Absolutely. We are an AI company that is constantly looking for trends related to human trafficking, crime, and terror. We provide solutions to **ital{Fortune} 500 companies to help them identify risks they may encounter.
Q: It’s a rather unusual occupation. How did you get started in the field of monitoring human trafficking?
A: I often say that this passion started as a child. Years ago, our family was walking around in an indoor market when my dad got distracted by this lady. And when he looked down, he saw that my four-year-old sister was gone. So he trusted his instincts, ran toward the building’s exit, and saw a man we didn’t know walking out the door with my sister. Thankfully, my dad recovered her at the very last second, and the man ran off.
But that left an impression on me. From there, I traveled the world playing in a rock-and-roll band and got exposed to human trafficking. I later went to India, where I saw a 14-year-old girl being trafficked right above a police station. In that moment, I knew my life was going to change. I became the statewide anti-trafficking coordinator in Florida, which really opened my eyes to the scope of the problem. I realized there was an opportunity to provide data and intelligence to support the work of fighting modern-day slavery.
Q: That’s quite a story. How prevalent is the problem worldwide?
A: It’s a growing problem right now. There are close to 50 million people enslaved around the world. Some estimates say that it’s a $250 billion-a-year industry—everything from sex trafficking to labor trafficking to organ trafficking. And what a lot of people don’t realize is that modern-day slavery exists in a lot of different industries, including agriculture, hospitality, and transportation. In fact, modern-day slavery touches 30 different industries directly and even more industries indirectly.
What most people also don’t realize is that this is not just an overseas problem; it’s happening here in the United States. It’s right here in our backyards.
Q: We’re living in the digital age, where information is readily available and easily accessible. How is it possible that people can actually be enslaved and those around them aren’t aware of it?
A: A perfect example of this is the illicit massage industry that exists here in the United States. A lot of times, these women are promised better jobs in the United States, and they think that they’re going to work in hospitality or the medical field, only to find that they’ve been trapped into the commercial sex trade. [The enslavers] will take away their passports and, if they don’t speak the language, they don’t have any freedom of movement. And that’s just one example of human trafficking that occurs in our backyards.
At Dark Watch, we have a map product that shows exactly where these 17,000 or so illicit activities are occurring. And it’s not just sex trafficking; there is also labor trafficking, particularly in agriculture, but also in some industries where you might not expect it.
Q: We often hear of trafficking occurring in manufacturing operations overseas, in so-called sweat shops. Does that also occur within manufacturing facilities here in the United States?
A: It’s hard to tell. There was a famous case involving a meat packing operation where there was child slavery involved. But I think that it’s more of an unknown in the United States.
Q: As you’ve noted, slavery and human trafficking could exist in our supply chains without our knowing it. Where are our supply chains most vulnerable?
A: There’s a movement to add transparency to supply chains, because oftentimes, the manufacturers themselves are unaware of what goes on within the chain, maybe all the way back to [the harvesting of cotton or the mining of] rare earth minerals that go into their products. It could also be in those middle layers of a supply chain. The main point is that whether it’s textiles or electronics or batteries, we all have to do our part to gain as much transparency into the supply chain as possible to identify where modern slavery risks may exist.
Q: How would you respond to someone who argues that they have little control over labor practices in distant parts of the world—that it’s not their job to police these operations or tell their suppliers what they should do?
A: That’s a great question. And in certain parts of the world, regulation and oversight have increased. Canada, for instance, has taken steps aimed at increasing supply chain transparency. We do have some regulations that have taken effect over the last couple of years that call for deeper transparency within supply chains.
I think one big reason why they should care about this is that there’s a huge headline risk to businesses. In recent years, certain large brands have made the headlines over allegations of labor trafficking violations within their supply chains. The headline and reputational risk is real, but it is also the right thing to do.
We can all do our part in helping to end modern-day slavery. We can look very closely at supplier relationships, for instance. There are a lot of tools out there, with Dark Watch being one of them, that can help organizations take a deeper look inside their supply chains.
Q: It seems that virtually all global supply chains carry some risk of human rights violations, but are there particular industries or countries that merit extra scrutiny?
A: We see a lot of slave labor in Southeast Asia, particularly in manufacturing operations. When I spent time in India, I actually saw it firsthand in the textile and apparel businesses.
But the problem isn’t confined to the garment trade. Slave labor is also involved in the production of parts that go into electronics. This extends all the way down to the rare earth minerals, like lithium and cobalt, that are essential to the manufacturing of our electronic devices—and which are often mined by enslaved people.
So when we start looking at our products and pull it all the way down to its base in the supply chain, there’s a high probability that there is modern-day slavery occurring. And we’ve seen plenty of examples of this in the food and beverage sector, such as with chocolate, where children have been used to harvest cacao beans.
Q: Your company, Dark Watch, provides a way to monitor whether or not slave labor is involved in the production of goods. What should a supply chain professional do if they discover slave labor is being used within their supply chains?
A: Depending on the area of the world, they should work with local regulators to provide information for auditing and to create more transparency. And I think that buyers and consumers of products are becoming more conscious of the problem and are beginning to demand that their electronics and other goods and services be ethically sourced. For companies, a good starting place is to take a public stand against human trafficking. You then have to commit to combating the practice and follow through on that commitment by requiring ethical hiring behavior on the part of your suppliers.
Q: I imagine that truth can be one of the ways to defeat slave labor and human trafficking. How can we help spread the word and let people know what is ethical and what is nonethical behavior within supply chains?
A: That’s a great, great question because we all have the ability to have these conversations—in our workplaces with our coworkers and also with our families and members of our communities. And then we need a top-down approach from executives in communicating this to their employees.
There’s a lot of information geared toward manufacturing and suppliers. One resource is the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report. That’s a great place to start to spread awareness. Another resource is Polaris [an organization that fights human trafficking]. Polaris has done incredible research when it comes to labor trafficking in supply chains and offers a wealth of information. Providing those resources and reports annually to your employees and key stakeholders is important, as we educate others about the reality of modern-day slavery.
We can each play a part in the fight against slavery. For me, I started in rock and roll, and never thought I’d end up in an AI and data company that helps fight modern-day slavery. But we all really can make a difference. It starts with having conversations in our workplace, in our community, and in our businesses.
