Right so a quick rundown:
Stop Enabling Online Trafficking Act (SESTA) and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) were bills signed into law back on April 11, 2018.
SESTA/FOSTA received bipartisan support and passed the House 388-25 and the Senate 97-2.
Several well known companies and celebrities actively supported these bills (my personal favorite *sarcasm* is this PSA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SB7-uqvnS0&feature=youtu.be but there are others)
SESTA/FOSTA made it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate or support sex trafficking.
What’s wrong with that? Well nothing you would think except they also amended Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act which made internet platform legally responsible for the actions of their users.
This means if a sex trafficker is found using Tumblr (for example) to traffic girls, under SESTA/FOSTA Tumblr is liable for that act.
As a response, Backpages, Craigslist, Instagram, and now Tumblr have blanket banned “adult content” because for them, it is safer to do that then run the risk of being liable for multiple sex trafficking rings.
This is not Tumblr’s fault.
Tumblr didn’t just wake up one day and decide it was a good day to ban nudity.
If you’re mad, be mad at these bills.
And FYI, if you’re thinking you could excuse the censorship effects of SESTA/FOSTA bc they further a worthwhile goal, you’re wrong. These bills actively harm trafficked victims. Erasing the online platforms increases stigma and decreases access to aid and resources.
SESTA/FOSTA is also extremely dangerous to sex workers, but that is a story for another post.
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