As you may know, sex trafficking has moved online.
But our laws haven’t kept up. In fact, federal law (Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act) gives broad immunity to websites that facilitate sex trafficking. Even websites like Backpage.com (a company on NCOSE’s Dirty Dozen List) that earn most of their profits from sex trafficking and prostitution ads!
Good news: there are amendments proposed in the House of Representatives and Senate to fix this outdated law with common sense edits so that websites intentionally facilitating sex trafficking can be held accountable.
Bad news: technology companies are lobbying hard against any amendment! Ultimately, money talks, and any possibility of increased accountability/liability scares the tech community so they are lobbying to have their fear of “potential” lawsuits prioritized over the REALITY that women and children are being sold and trafficking online this very hour. (Click here to read our responses to their arguments.)
You can help: this Wednesday is the first time Senators will be editing and amending the proposed legislation to stop online sex trafficking.
You can call your elected representative, or Tweet at them, to tell them to pass a strong version of Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017 (SESTA)!
If the bill gets stalled or watered down in this meeting, it could have detrimental impacts on trafficking victims.
It is the fervent hope of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation that the Committee will vote out a strong bill, one that will hold accountable all who are knowingly, or with reckless disregard, facilitating trafficking in human beings.
You can easily get the information and talking points to call your Senator here. Or tweet them easily with this pre-written message, before Wednesday morning!
This is the single most significant piece of anti-trafficking legislation for our generation! It might be a long fight, but having your support every step of the way is vital.
