This anti-sex trafficking law could end internet freedom
The law impacts sites like Reddit, Craigslist, and Google — and that’s just the start.
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President Trump recently signed into law a set of controversial bills intended to make it easier to cut down on illegal sex trafficking online. Both bills — the House bill known as FOSTA, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, and the Senate bill, SESTA, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act — have been hailed by advocates as a victory for sex trafficking victims.
But the new law pokes a huge hole in what is generally seen as one of the most important pieces of internet legislation ever created, Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Without this clause exempting websites from liability for the actions of their users, most websites simply couldn’t afford to exist Internet freedom advocates argue that this could lead to further eroding of an open internet — and puts sex workers on the front line.
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@Vox
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Read more about how FOSTA could impact the battle for a free internet on Vox.com: http://bit.ly/2Iaop47
@girodrigues4536
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Qualquer lei para combater o tráfico de estupros e violações!!!
@axelhalbardier8874
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Notice the "could"!
@murdoch3396
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
I’m happy with all the facts of this law. The additional hurdles that it’s putting in front of prostitutes seem to be making it harder for them to engage in that behavior to begin with.
@tranjavanadbia123
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
GOD PROTECT MEN FROM EVIL FEMINISTS *
@gtan5509
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Isn't prostitution illegal?
@Jillian1stJohn3-9-10
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Children need to be protected.
@Orf
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
4:40 censoring adult content
@_anerasu_4772
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
The government needs more millennials
@rebekah7244
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
First of all, it's ALREADY restricted (Ah,EM, YT Censorship) – anyway, Id rather have restricted internet if that means safety for the children.
@Zerohhhd
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Well at least we won’t have Billie Ellish
@9840kslx
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Interestingly enough the Libertarian Party is working on having FOSTA SESTA repealed!
They are working with a local activist to get petition signed!
Check out the Political Page
http://christa4u.weebly.com/political-page.html
@topoftop9999
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Is that what happened to steait and candid?
@forgethefrostdragonslayer162
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
no not my hentai!!!!
@LandonRoy-cv9rt
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
I don’t care about internet freedom TO SAVE CHILDREN FROM PEDOPHILES, Democrats on the other don’t think so
@RellDefinition
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
The most informative video I've seen from vox
@mathiasvoorhees6232
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Between the racism, feminism, transgenderism, Article 13, UMG and now this, I predict in a few years we'll be thanking African slaves for air and asking prisoners if they consent to being in prison.
@QuartzIsAnOxide
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
S O X
@legitness8348
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Big Brother is always watching
@josephdupont
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Towanda man arrested, charged with 2,144 counts of sexual offenses
By BRIANNE OSTRANDER Staff Writer
Apr 28, 2018
TOWANDA — The Towanda Borough Police Department has arrested Jonathan C. Hakes, 35, of Towanda on charges of a multitude of sexual offenses against juvenile victims.
@Night_Lurker
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Don't think a sex worker should be a teacher………
@ramone_2gdw55
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
As a right winger, even though i hate the democrat party for political correctness i do support legalizing prostitution, as well as marijuana. The problem is that the majority of republicans want to keep it decriminalized and that just piss me off. It just makes me realize that both sides of the political spectrum don't have perfect ideologies but rather have a misunderstanding of each other on issues occurring in America that it scatters like puzzle pieces.
@lesmelghem2608
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
c
@CG-xr5bz
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Just move the real criminals more underground while attacking the freedoms of the innocent. Bull.
@alf3488
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
No more pornhub.
@ZidaneSteiner
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Vox wants sex trafficking to stay the way it is.
@mimi1238912
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
So… no head ?
@theflorri
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
america saying they solved something and making it worse…..*pretends to be surprised*
@alexchop3934
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
And there goes president douche bag limiting freedom again
@David_Lloyd-Jones
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
"This anti-sex trafficking law could end internet freedom
"
Hey, friends, that's a garbage headline. It's false, it's click-bait for net-freedom absolutists (like myself…), and it misses the point — the important point that the law's actual effects would be mostly the opposite of the claimed intentions.
Vox folks, you are not living up to Vox standards on this one.
@iorgo91
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
sex worker=prostitute?
@Nino244
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
If he'd want to get criminals off the internet he should start with himself and delete his twitter account
@jeremyzabel2923
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Yes, totes, let's get Backpage back up so that people can resume using it for child sex trafficking!!! Yay! Human rights abuses for everyone!
@mujjuman
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Prostitution is a very important part of society. Men need to release. Without easy access to prostitutes, you’re gonna have way more angry men with guns running around.
@stevenneiman9789
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
This is always the problem with anything that punishes sex workers. There will always be supply and demand far exceeding any capacity for monitoring that isn't very dangerous in its own right, so all that these laws do is ensure that sex workers can't gain the benefits of a supportive and informed legal community. The problem has never been consensual sex work, it's slavery and union-busting, the same problems which have been endangering and disenfranchising workers in every field, legal and illegal, at least as far back as the industrial revolution.
Obviously, those problems are at their worst in the sex industry, and the methods used to cause them are novel, but the problems are the same at the core. They're just worst when the consequence for not solving them is rape, and they're hardest when we desperately need to understand a topic we're embarrassed to discuss.
@MerkieAE
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
>Sex worker and teacher
>hmmm
@markmitchezee2728
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
There are few things as hilarious as a Liberal complaining about loss of freedoms. The same group that supports the censoring of conservative speech on college campus's & social media while their buddies in black masks are outside beating people and burning cars to prevent the spread of Fascism ? Yes, the Democrat " Crazy Bernie " National Socialist Workers Party burning cars & Beating people in the name of " Freedom " ? " They just don't know what's good for them ! " said the compassionate masked Liberal Democrat holding the baseball bat
@jayyyzeee6409
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
STUPID LAWMAKERS!
@urmomisthebomb902
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
this topic doesn't have much importance. There are more eye-catching, note-worthy topics that Vox should be broadcasting about.
@shackerslade3215
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
America, becoming a dictatorship since 9/11.
@jeanh500
April 18, 2026 at 4:42 am
Watch the documentary I Am Jane Doe if you want to see the reasoning for this. Backpage was massively helping the traffickers, and the lawsuit which eventually led to the law was largely led by the teenage girls who were trafficked. However, I completely believe that this is a step in the wrong direction, and we should instead legalise and regulate prostitution