Wayfair is Not Trafficking Children
The Claim
Wayfair, a popular furniture store, is trafficking children.
Emerging story
On July 9, 2020, Reddit user u/PrincessPeach1987 posted, “Is it Possible Wayfair involved in Human trafficking with their WFX Utility collection?”
Users on social media were quick to pick up the claim.
It even got its own hashtag, #wayfairchildtrafficking.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation shows that the Wayfair website does have a history of listing items, such as these shower curtains, at far beyond their normal selling price:
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However, in a statement to Newsweek, Wayfair said that the cabinets listed for $10,000 were industrial-grade and therefore the correct price. While it is improbable that the shower curtain was also listed for the correct price, it is most likely an error and not something more nefarious.
Other theories claim that Wayfair products use the names of missing children. For example, there is a shelf called the “Alyvia” and a storage unit called the “Anabel,” which corresponds with two children who have gone missing in the past decade. This seems tenuous, though, since many furniture sellers use first names for their products and there are nearly half a million children reported missing every year.
While the Wayfair website did have products with unusually high prices, it is very unlikely that they are using it to traffic children.
