Senate Commerce to Examine Online Sex Trafficking Bill Tuesday

The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act that would change a key part of the Communications Decency Act will get a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday. Witnesses include bill opponents Santa Clara University School of Law professor Eric Goldman and Internet Association General Counsel Abigail Slater, and supporter National Center for Missing & Exploited Children General Counsel Yiota Souras. Since introduced in early August, S-1693 has been a lightning rod for the tech and civil liberties communities, which claimed the proposed change to Section 230 would undermine protections for online platforms that host user-generated content and make them liable for information posted by third parties on their sites (see 1708010011, 1708110022 and 1708110022). "With the threat of overwhelming criminal and civil liability hanging over their heads, Internet platforms would likely turn to automated filtering of users’ speech in a big way," blogged Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Staff Technologist Jeremy Gillula and activist Elliot Harmon Wednesday. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, sponsored the bipartisan bill, which attracted 27 co-sponsors. He led a nearly two-year probe into Backpage.com that in January resulted in a scathing report alleging the online classified advertiser was complicit in facilitating underage sex trafficking on the internet (see 1701100001). Experts who follow the case said it's unclear if DOJ is pursuing charges against Backpage. CoStar Group, Oracle and 21st Century Fox are tech or multimedia companies that back the bill. In a letter released Wednesday by Portman, 21st Century Fox's Chip Smith, executive vice president-global public affairs, said the "narrow and tailored legislation" properly targets bad actors. He said the bill's critics are using "hyperbole and scare tactics" to say its enactment would end free speech and innovation on the Internet. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., sponsored companion bipartisan legislation (HR-1865) that garnered 126 co-sponsors. The 10:30 a.m. Senate Commerce hearing will be in 253 Russell.