AFA of PA ACTION ALERT
February 27, 2018
Issue
Ask Your US Representative to Fight Sexual Exploitation
Details
The US House is scheduled to vote on HR 1865 the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017.” Its purpose is “To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify that section 230 of such Act does not prohibit the enforcement against providers and users of interactive computer services of Federal and State criminal and civil law relating to sexual exploitation of children or sex trafficking.”
Here’s a little background: Section 230 of the Communications Act, the Good Samaritan Defense, was intended to protect children from online exploitation. There’s been a series of devastating rulings in multiple court cases which have misinterpreted this section to grant immunity to websites whose advertising business model knowingly facilitates sex trafficking and exploitation. The worst yet was the 1st Circuit Court ruling in Doe v. Backpage which held that even if Backpage had participated in the crime of sex trafficking, Section 230 shielded the company from the claims filed by child victims!
The US House has an opportunity to fix this!
Action Steps
Contact your US Representative and ask him to vote ‘yea’ on HR 1865, the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017.”
