Washington D.C. – Today, NetChoice welcomed the Senate’s efforts to address the problems of sex trafficking via the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) but called for more work to address technical faults with the legislation.
“Sex trafficking victims deserve a law that stands up to constitutional scrutiny and provides the protections necessary to ultimately end a scourge that has harmed so many,” said Carl Szabo, Vice President and General Counsel at NetChoice. “Unfortunately, FOSTA includes a provision the Department of Justice has said is unconstitutional. At a minimum, Congress should not deliberately pass unconstitutional legislation. This provision can easily be fixed through a simple amendment and clear report language.”
If the Senate takes the time to amend the bill in this way, NetChoice looks forward to working with legislators on another straightforward fix. The Senate should add a single sentence to the bill making explicit what the sponsors have said publicly many times: the Good Samaritan provision of Section 230 remains intact. Otherwise the legislation, well-intended though it is, is likely to interfere with the desired result of stopping sex trafficking.