President Donald Trump has signed a new law aimed at curbing sex trafficking. President Donald Trump sign the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), a bill that aims to fight sex trafficking by reducing legal protections for online platforms. FOSTA passed the Senate in March by an overwhelming majority, and it’s been endorsed by the Internet Association, which represents major companies like Facebook and Google.
But privacy and civil liberties advocates say it’s a fatally flawed bill that would hurt small online communities, and sex workers say it will make them less safe by driving them offline. During a White House signing ceremony Wednesday, the president said the survivors "are very brave."
Among those at the ceremony were Trump's daughter, Ivanka, several members of Congress and families of victims. The law passed Congress overwhelmingly. It weakens a legal shield for online services that host abusive content, including sex trafficking.
The protections made users of such sites as Facebook liable for the content. The legislation grew out of frustration that classified-ad sites can claim they aren't the publisher of questionable content but are merely transmitting posts by others.
Trump called the issue "a tough one," and handed one signing pen to the mother of a victim of the sex trade.
