DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND VULNERABILITY TO SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The advancement of digital technologies has become irreversibly integrated into the development of children and adolescents, but it has also expanded the possibilities for sexual exploitation, requiring updated institutional responses. This article presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), of a qualitative nature and theoretical-applied purpose, guided by the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The central objective was to analyze the gaps in the protection network, correlating the deficit of digital citizenship with systemic vulnerability, in order to offer theoretical and methodological support to the actions of the IV National Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons (IV PNETP 2024-2028). The methodology consisted of a search in the Web of Science database (2024–2026, until April 2026), resulting in a final corpus of 12 scientific articles selected for full analysis. The results point to institutional and structural fragmentation that compromises the effectiveness of interventions, highlighting gaps in the public health sector, the negligence of the technology industry, and pedagogical approaches limited to individual control. The analysis proposes the "digital citizenship deficit" as a socio-technical analytical category encompassing insufficient literacy, fragile support networks, and the opacity of platforms. It concludes that addressing human trafficking must transcend the online/offline dichotomy, adopting an epistemological orientation based on the OnLIFE Education Paradigm, socio-technical justice, and autonomous resilience for critical digital citizenship.