FOSTA-SESTA

FOSTA (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) and SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) are U.S. Senate and House bills which became law on April 11, 2018. They clarify the country's sex trafficking law to make it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking, and amend the Section 230 safe harbors of the Communications Decency Act (which make online services immune from civil liability for the actions of their users) to exclude enforcement of federal or state sex trafficking laws from its immunity. Senate sponsor Rob Portman had previously led an investigation into the online classifieds service Backpage (which had been accused of facilitating child sex trafficking), and argued that Section 230 was protecting its "unscrupulous business practices" and was not designed to provide immunity to websites that facilitate sex trafficking.

SESTA received bipartisan support from U.S. senators, the Internet Association, as well as companies such as 21st Century Fox and Oracle, who supported the bill's goal to encourage proactive action against illegal sex trafficking. SESTA was criticized by pro-free speech groups for weakening section 230 safe harbors, alleging that it would make providers become liable for any usage of their platforms that facilitates sex trafficking, knowingly if they moderate for such content, and with reckless disregard if they do not proactively take steps to prevent such usage.

SESTA was incorporated into the House version of the bill with the "Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" (FOSTA) and the joint proposal was known as the "FOSTA-SESTA package". On February 27, 2018, the FOSTA-SESTA package was passed in the House of Representatives with a vote of 388–25. On March 21, 2018, the FOSTA-SESTA package bill passed the Senate with a vote of 97–2, with only senators Ron Wyden and Rand Paul voting against it. The bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump on April 11, 2018.

The Section 230 safe harbor was established in 1996, making the providers of "interactive computer services" immune from liability under civil laws for the actions of their users if they publish objectionable content (such as defamatory and obscene content). Section 230 has been considered a key piece of Internet legislation, as operators of online services that handle user-generated content are not liable for civil wrongs committed by their users, if the service was not directly involved in the offending content. These provisions do not apply to criminal or intellectual property law. The Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation (SAVE) Act made it illegal to advertise sex trafficking, knowingly benefit financially from participation in a venture that advertises sex trafficking, and to engage in activities related to sex trafficking besides advertising, knowingly or in reckless disregard of the fact that sex trafficking is involved.

In an op-ed, Portman cited numbers from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which showed an 846% increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking to the organization from 2010 to 2015. He attributed this largely to Backpage, an online classifieds service that had been accused of knowingly accepting ads which facilitated child sex trafficking, and filtered specific keywords in order to obfuscate it. The site had faced legal disputes, and a government investigation spearheaded by Portman. Portman argued that Section 230 was being used to "protect its unscrupulous business practices", and that Section 230 protections "were never intended to apply – and they should not apply – to companies that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking." Attempts to stop Backpage and similar sites via the court system failed, as the Courts affirmed these sites have protection via Section 230, and those seeking action failed to enjoin the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the matter.

The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act amends Section 1591 of Title 18 of the United States Code to add a definition of "participation in a venture", as knowingly assisting, facilitating, or supporting sex trafficking. It amends section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code to state that it is policy to "ensure vigorous enforcement of Federal criminal and civil law relating to sex trafficking", and that section 230 does not impair enforcement of "any State criminal prosecution or civil enforcement action targeting conduct that violates a Federal criminal law prohibiting [sex trafficking]", nor "impair the enforcement or limit the application of section 1595 of title 18, United States Code."

SESTA was co-sponsored by 27 Democratic and Republican senators; early supporters of the bill included members of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which was chaired by Portman and led the aforementioned investigation into Backpage. Representative Mimi Walters stated that websites such as Backpage have become the "storefronts" for the modern-day slave trade and that the FOSTA-SESTA legislation will help prosecutors "crack down on websites that promote sex trafficking" as well as provide recourse for victims. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) stated her support for the FOSTA-SESTA package, believing that "Congress must act to clarify that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was never meant to shield sex traffickers."

The New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking called the FOSTA-SESTA package a "groundbreaking bill" in the effort to bring justice to victims. The FOSTA-SESTA package is also supported by other members of advocacy groups such as ECPAT Executive Director Carol Smolenski, Operation Texas Shield founder John Clark, and Faith & Freedom Coalition Executive Director Timothy Head.