WASHINGTON – At long last Congress has passed a bill to combat online sex trafficking now that the Senate has approved the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) 97 to 2.
“In an increasingly technology-driven world, it is important for us to continue working to stop the evils of sex and human trafficking. Proud to have helped pass SESTA legislation today,” tweeted Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) after the vote.
Until now, websites behind the crime were unintentionally protected by the US Communications Decency Act (CDA).
As CBN News correspondent Heather Sells reported last month, “It’s been a wide-open secret for years: pimps and traffickers using websites like BackPage to advertise women and children for sale. Law enforcement has turned to these sites to find criminals and victims, but the prosecution of the internet companies has been largely out of the question.”
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“Hopefully it will send a signal to people that sex exploitation isn’t the business to get in now,” Lisa Thompson, vice president of research and education for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, told CBN News.
