Tech Groups Watching Section 230, As Consumer Groups Want Platform Scrutiny
With anti-sex trafficking legislation signed into law, tech groups are ready to oppose further legislative efforts that might weaken liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, an industry representative told us. Proponents of the recently passed bill said this is the start of a larger conversation about online platforms’ responsibilities to the public on privacy, propaganda and criminal behavior.
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President Donald Trump signed the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers-Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking (SESTA-FOSTA) package in March (see 1803210064), with lead sponsor Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, saying the law will make it “easier to hold online sex traffickers accountable.” Under previous legal framework, DOJ issued federal indictments against Backpage.com owners, executives and employees, and the commercial sex website was shuttered. Industry opponents said that's evidence the existing legal framework was sufficient to combat illicit online hosts. Throughout the legislative process, the Center for Democracy & Technology cautioned proponents to wait for a decision from a federal grand jury in the case against Backpage.
“We’re certainly concerned about any further efforts to continue to further destabilize [Section 230], to continue to make intermediaries even more uncertain about what exactly could bring them into risk of criminal prosecution or civil liability,” said CDT Director-Free Expression Project Emma Llansó. Cityvibe is another website that has gone dark since the law’s passage, and Craigslist and Reddit discontinued sections traditionally used for prostitution, sexual encounters and dating. Craigslist’s decision signifies a fundamental change to Section 230, Llansó said.
Digital Citizens Alliance Executive Director Tom Galvin said SESTA’s passage created a political demand for action from Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The string of events is one leg in a “tripod of issues” that includes Cambridge Analytica harvesting Facebook data (see 1804100054) and foreign political interference, he said. Tech concerns about the principles of Section 230 are legitimate, but platforms need to reconcile those concerns with the public’s growing distrust, he said: “If the platforms don’t want regulation, which I think has its risks by the way, they should be taking these steps on themselves. If they don’t do it, someone else might.”
Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court said SESTA will curtail Backpage copycats, while altering the landscape in Washington for implementing new reforms for platforms to address online criminal issues: “Our interest was always in exposing how the Googles and Facebooks were fighting this legislation because they didn’t want to police their platforms against Russian spies and counterfeiters and other types of criminals.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said this week that with increased resources for monitoring nefarious political content, Facebook’s political advertising business will lose money. The platform plans to double its staff of content reviewers, systems engineers and security experts to 20,000 this year (see 1803300035).
Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco, a human-trafficking researcher and expert witness who has interviewed more than 2,000 victims, called SESTA “probably the worst piece of legislation for victims of sex trafficking.” She spoke with several lawmakers who voted for the bill, and concluded they “don’t know much about trafficking.” Craigslist’s “Personal” section was used for legitimate casual encounters between consenting adults with no commercial purpose, Mehlman-Orozco said, but “they’ve shuttered it as a preventative measure.” Lawmakers cited these symbolic closures as victories against the sex-trafficking industry, but Mehlman-Orozco said the exchanges are still occurring widely, citing recent interviews with sex workers and consumers. Mehlman-Orozco claimed many of the transactions shifted to private groups on Facebook and Twitter: “There are more exchanges happening on social media platforms than ever before, which is problematic because it’s now harder for law enforcement to identify illegal activity.” Backpage, an open-access website, was used by police as a centralized tool for combating illegal sex trafficking, she said. Children are still going to be trafficked, but now they're filtered through more clandestine spaces on the internet, she said.
Court believes SESTA will limit the ease and volume of sex trafficking, but cases going underground will be harder to identify: “This is going to slow the trade immeasurably, but it’s hard to ever eradicate it.” He applauded Republicans and Trump for leading in regulating this aspect of the internet.
Committee for Justice President Curt Levey, whose group opposed the legislation, said it could be years before the chilling effect of Section 230’s weakening is fully realized. “We’re going to see censorship or sites completely wiping their hands of the Good Samaritan role,” and expect proponents to push for this trend to address concerns about guns, drugs, revenge porn and other issues, he said.