Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement celebrating the passage of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) today in the Senate:
“As Attorney General of Nevada, I spent eight years working to crack down on sex trafficking rings, support survivors, and hold traffickers accountable. I ran for Senate because I wanted to continue that work at the federal level. I am proud to support the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, a crucial piece of legislation that will empower prosecutors to crack down on websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking. For too long, these websites have been immune from criminal prosecution even when evidence against them is incontrovertible. This bill will change that by giving survivors the tools they need to bring the websites that intentionally facilitate and profit from this horrendous crime to justice.”
BACKGROUND:
The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017 would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and ensure that websites that intentionally facilitate sex trafficking to be held liable and allows victims get their fair day in court. This carefully crafted legislation offers reforms to help sex trafficking victims. Specifically, it would:
- Allow victims of sex trafficking to seek justice against websites that knowingly facilitated their victimization;
- Clarify that websites are civilly and criminally liable for knowingly facilitating sex trafficking;
- Enable state law enforcement officials, not just the federal Department of Justice, to take action against individuals or businesses that violate federal sex trafficking laws.