DOJ filed a federal indictment against Backpage.com owners, executives and employees on Monday, which drew praise from Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, author of recently passed anti-sex trafficking legislation. DOJ’s seizure of Backpage is proof that the legislation is needed, lawmakers said last week, while one critic argued it proves current law is working. The Senate passed the SESTA-FOSTA (the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers-Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking) package last month (see 1803210064), and Portman expects President Donald Trump to sign the legislation this week. “This bipartisan measure will make it easier to hold online sex traffickers accountable,” Portman said, calling DOJ’s seizure good news for victims and survivors of online sex trafficking. Co-sponsor Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said police “need this bill to enable them to take swift action against websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking of children online.” Meanwhile, TechFreedom argued that the seizure of Backpage proves law enforcement already has plenty of legal tools to pursue action against illicit actors and just needed to make it a priority. “Sex trafficking was exploited as an emotional pretext to chip away Section 230 immunity,” TechFreedom President Berin Szoka said, referring to a portion of the Communications Decency Act. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) said law enforcement will continue to find human sex traffickers and bring them to justice. Backpage unsuccessfully sued Hawley to block an investigation of the website.
Critics of the anti-sex trafficking legislation that passed the Senate Wednesday (see 1803210064) maintain it will result in broad censorship by websites seeking to avoid content-hosting liability, but proponents say the bill will have far-ranging, positive impacts for victims and families. Shortly after passage, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement of support from President Donald Trump: “The legislation empowers Federal, State, and local prosecutors to hold websites accountable for supporting the sale of sex trafficking victims.” Center for Democracy & Technology Director of Free Expression Emma Llansó said the new measure would drive sex trafficking activity offline or to foreign websites, while obstructing an open internet. Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman called Communications Decency Act Section 230 a “key tool” for allowing Good Samaritan efforts to fight against trafficking: “IA will continue our work to preserve Section 230 and prevent attempts to weaken this crucial protection.” Consumer Watchdog praised passage. Privacy and Technology Project Director John Simpson called it “a chink in the Teflon of Google and Facebook’s shield of immunity.” The legislation “will have long range consequences not only for protection of individuals and families online, but also for a re-evaluation of these companies’ duties to police their platforms,” he said.
IBM opposes including intermediary liability protections -- like those contained in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act -- in updates currently under consideration in North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, announced IBM Vice President-Government and Regulatory Affairs Christopher Padilla Thursday. With those protections, online platforms are free from liability for user content. As evidenced by the recent House approval of Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865) (see 1802270057), “there is no longer a U.S. consensus that internet media companies should enjoy automatic blanket immunity from legal liability,” Padilla said, arguing it’s nonsensical to export a legal model that's increasingly being questioned domestically. Internet Association Senior Vice President-Global Government Affairs Melika Carroll emailed a statement Friday, saying the entire tech sector and broader business community continue to support intermediary liability protections in trade agreements. “These provisions preserve free speech, benefit consumers around the world, and enable untold value for American entrepreneurs well beyond the internet economy,” Carroll said.
The lead sponsors of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S-1693) were still deciding at the end of last week whether they will seek to pass the existing language of their bill when it comes up for a floor vote the week of March 12, or instead pursue the combination with the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865) the House passed Tuesday. The House cleared HR-1865 on a 388-25 vote after agreeing to add provisions from S-1693 over objections from some tech sector and privacy advocates (see 1802270057). Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., meanwhile, continued to raise objections to S-1693 that stalled the bill last year (see 1711080042 and 1801030047).
The House passed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865) Tuesday evening on a 388-25 vote. The House approved a trio of amendments supported by lead sponsor Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., amid continued opposition by some tech, privacy and open internet proponents to the possible changes. The amendments included one from Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Calif., to include language from the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S-1693), which the House cleared on a 308-107 vote. Both bills would amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 to make it easier to bring criminal charges against websites that knowingly facilitate or promote sex trafficking. Opponents of adding the S-1693 language say HR-1865's existing language is a more targeted approach (see 1801040050).
YouTube and Prager University are at odds over a preliminary injunction sought by the conservative group. Prager said in support of its motion for a preliminary injunction that the admission by YouTube and its Google parent that Prager videos don't contain age-restricted content, while contending the videos contain potentially mature content sufficient to warrant viewer access restrictions, are enough to justify the requested relief. Prager said in the docket 17-cv-6064 filing (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in San Jose that YouTube's acknowledgement its Restricted Mode can improperly restrict videos in a way to create viewpoint discrimination backs the group's push. Google/YouTube in a reply (in Pacer) Friday isaid Prager's case is "a public relations campaign disguised as a lawsuit" when it asks the court to ignore YouTube's First Amendment and Communications Decency Act Section 230 rights to help users avoid content on its service. Prager sued YouTube last fall over the restricted mode feature (see 1801030009).
The House Rules Committee was to have considered Monday evening the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865), setting up a planned Tuesday floor debate and vote. The committee will in part consider an amendment from Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Calif., to include language from the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S-1693). Both bills would amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 to make it easier to bring criminal charges against websites that knowingly facilitate or promote sex trafficking. Some tech, privacy and open internet proponents have strongly favored HR-1865's existing language as a more targeted approach to curbing online sex trafficking (see 1801040050). Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., S-1693's lead sponsors, lauded Walters for seeking to add language from their bill to HR-1865. The additional provisions deserve "every member’s support," they said.
The House likely votes Monday on anti-sex trafficking legislation, with the lower chamber proposing an amendment to include victim-focused language from the bill's Senate version, lawmakers said Wednesday. Rep. Ann Wagner’s, R-Mo., Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865) will be amended to include language from Sen. Rob Portman’s, R-Ohio, Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S-1693) (see 1801300047). Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Calif., introduced the amendment, which includes victim-focused provisions from the Senate bill. The legislation alters Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, making it easier to bring criminal charges against websites that knowingly facilitate or promote sex trafficking. Walters said her amendment would allow victims to pursue federal civil claims against websites that deliberately facilitate or support sex trafficking. The legislation “is the most effective way to empower victims, equip state and local prosecutors, and ensure websites can no longer traffic children with impunity,” Wagner said. Consumer Watchdog praised the measure, saying it will allow prosecutors to hold websites like Backpage accountable for enabling child sex trafficking.
Parts of the tech industry came under nearly as much fire as sex traffickers Tuesday with an at-times heated panel discussion on the House's Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA)(HR-1865) vs. the Senate's Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA)(S-1693). "I don't understand why you have these entrenched interests slinging arrows," said former federal prosecutor Francey Hakes.
Liability protections for third-party online content should be included in the North American Free Trade Agreement, said 55 scholars and groups of various regulatory persuasions in a letter Monday to trade heads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The internet was an "obscure electronic network" when NAFTA was negotiated and now is an essential part of the economy, said the Center for Democracy & Technology, Competitive Enterprise Institute, FreedomWorks, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, R Street, TechFreedom and others. They urged that a new agreement include immunity provisions like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online companies from legal action for content on their sites. Immunity provisions make it easy for startups to launch new services, and advance consumers' free speech rights, the letter said. “The legal exposure of Internet businesses raises vitally important trade issues,” blogged Santa Clara Law professor Eric Goldman, who spearheaded the effort and has been critical of congressional legislation aimed at curbing online sex trafficking that would make exceptions to Section 230 protections (see 1801040050). "New rules on cross-border data flows, non-disclosure requirements for source code and algorithms, and highlighting the role of interoperability mechanisms to transfer data across borders" should be part of a new pact, said Software & Information Industry Association Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy.