Read why now, this MPR site, RMaps, and other adult oriented websites will need to lawyer up just like Backpage had to.
The U.S. House of Representatives bill, FOSTA, "Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" was amended to include the U.S. Senate bill, SESTA, "Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act."
FOSTA makes "promoting prostitution" a federal crime, holds websites legally liable for user-posted content, and lets states retroactively prosecute offenders.
FOSTA targets website platforms that allow user-generated content as well as adults consensually engaging in prostitution with sex workers.
FOSTA explicitly criminalizes whoever uses or operates a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce or attempts to do so with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person.
The two bills, FOSTA and SESTA, undermine Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which protects online platforms from being held liable for the speech of their users.
In addition to its criminal provisions, FOSTA makes possible civil suits brought by state Attorneys General targeting advertisers on websites that enable communication about sex work.
President Donald Trump "applauds the House of Representatives for its work," the White House said in a statement on Thursday evening March 1.
Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Reason Magazine
https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/28/fosta