![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The 2018 US anti-sex trafficking laws Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) were intended to limit the use of online communication platforms as illegal sexual commerce hubs. Several years later, sex trafficking prosecutions have plummeted, and US law enforcement agencies lament the loss of internet sites like Backpage where they previously identified victims. Instead, a range of serious consequences like the diminishment of global sex workers’ rights and the chilling of sexual speech abound. FOSTA/SESTA are analyzed as part of the deplatforming of sex, and as having emboldened technology corporations to make sweeping changes to the sexual content that can exist on mainstream platforms like Google. Digital platforms are central to sexuality, and thus we must articulate and defend our rights against government intrusion and overreaching corporate content moderation. Citizens deserve to pursue consensual sexual lives and protecting the ability to do so, even when that entails challenging laws and oligopolistic technology corporations’ policies, is a social justice mandate.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 The Mann Act, federal legislation passed in 1910, criminalizes the transportation of any individual, male or female, in interstate or foreign commerce or in any territory or possession of the USA for the purpose of prostitution or sexual activity which is a criminal offence under the federal or state statute or local ordinance.
2 The Congressional actions on S.3165 – SAFE SEX Workers Study Act can be found online: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3165
3 For a record of the S.3165 – SAFE SEX Workers Study Act progression through Congress, see: https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/1164250
4 In August 2021, OnlyFans announced that it would being blocking users from posting explicit photographs and videos in October 2021 at the request of its ‘banking partners and payout providers'. OnlyFans said it would still allow people to post images containing nudity that complied with its revised guidelines. See Lorenz and Lupkat (2021 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/business/onlyfans-porn-ban.html).
5 In June 2020, the Department of Justice brought the first prosecution under § 2421A, against Wilham Martono, the alleged owner of cityxguide. Although Martono allegedly expanded the site’s services after Backpage’s closure, cityxguide was included on the original list of websites that the House Judiciary Committee said that FOSTA was needed to address. See Albert, Brundige and Lee (Citation2021, 1152).