On April 11, 2018, President Trump signed a bill that most Americans had never heard of. Within hours, Craigslist’s personal ads vanished forever. Backpage shut down completely. And suddenly, the internet got a lot less free.
The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act – mercifully shortened to SESTA-FOSTA – promised to protect victims of sex trafficking. Nobody argues with that goal. But the way Congress wrote this law accidentally created the biggest threat to online free speech since the internet began.
The 26 Words That Built the Internet
To understand what SESTA-FOSTA broke, you need to know about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Twenty-six words changed everything: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
That’s legal speak for something simple: if you post something illegal on Facebook, Facebook isn’t responsible. You are. This protection let every platform from Google to your local newspaper’s comment section exist without getting sued into oblivion every time someone said something stupid or illegal.
For over 20 years, this worked pretty well. Platforms could host user content without becoming liable for every single thing their users posted. It’s why we have social media, review sites, forums – basically the entire modern internet.
How Congress Decided to Fix What Wasn’t Broken
SESTA-FOSTA carved out an exception to Section 230 specifically for sex trafficking. Sounds reasonable, right? If platforms knowingly facilitate sex trafficking, they should face consequences.
Here’s where things went sideways. The law doesn’t just target sites that “knowingly” assist trafficking. It also goes after platforms that “knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking” or that “promote or facilitate prostitution.” That second part – about prostitution – was the poison pill.
Congress lumped together sex trafficking (which involves force, fraud, or coercion) with consensual adult sex work. They made platforms liable not just for actual trafficking, but for any content that could “facilitate” prostitution, even between consenting adults.
The practical result? Platforms faced a choice: spend millions on content moderation to avoid liability, or just ban anything that might possibly relate to sex work. Most chose the nuclear option.
Why Craigslist Folded Instantly
Craigslist didn’t wait to see how the law would play out. The day SESTA-FOSTA passed, they killed their personal ads section entirely. Their reasoning was brutally honest: they couldn’t guarantee that every “casual encounters” or “missed connections” post wouldn’t somehow facilitate prostitution.
Think about that for a second. Craigslist had been running personal ads for decades with minimal issues. But now, a “missed connection” post about spotting someone cute at Starbucks could theoretically expose them to federal prosecution if that person happened to be a sex worker.
Backpage, which had been fighting federal prosecutors for years, finally gave up and shut down completely. But they weren’t the only casualties. Dating sites, classified ad platforms, and even mainstream social media sites started aggressively censoring anything that mentioned sex, dating, or relationships.
The Collateral Damage Nobody Saw Coming
SESTA-FOSTA didn’t just kill sketchy classified sites. It created a chilling effect across the entire internet. Instagram started shadow-banning posts with hashtags like #lingerie. Tumblr banned all adult content, destroying years of sex-positive communities. Even academic research about sex work became harder to discuss online.
Dating apps got paranoid too. They ramped up their content moderation, sometimes blocking legitimate conversations between consenting adults. The law’s vague language meant nobody knew exactly what would get them in trouble, so everyone played it ultra-safe.
The most bitter irony? Sex trafficking didn’t decrease. It just moved to darker corners of the internet where it’s harder for law enforcement to track. Multiple studies have shown that SESTA-FOSTA made sex workers less safe by forcing them off platforms where they could screen clients and work more securely.
Why This Matters Beyond Classified Ads
You might think, “So what? I don’t use personal ads anyway.” But SESTA-FOSTA set a dangerous precedent. For the first time in internet history, Congress decided that Section 230 protections could be stripped away for specific types of content.
Once you punch one hole in Section 230, it’s easier to punch more. Politicians have already proposed similar carve-outs for “terrorist content,” “misinformation,” and “hate speech.” Each sounds reasonable in isolation, but together they could dismantle the legal framework that makes the modern internet possible.
The law also showed how quickly platforms will self-censor when faced with potential liability. They don’t wait for courts to interpret vague laws – they just ban everything that might be risky. That’s not how free speech is supposed to work.
The Law That Keeps on Breaking Things
Five years later, we’re still discovering new ways SESTA-FOSTA broke the internet. Cloud hosting services have become more aggressive about dropping clients. Payment processors refuse to work with anything remotely related to adult content, even legal businesses. The law’s broad language keeps finding new victims.
Meanwhile, the platforms that survived – Facebook, Twitter, Google – got even more powerful. Smaller competitors couldn’t afford the legal risks and compliance costs that SESTA-FOSTA created. The law accidentally helped consolidate the internet around a few giant platforms that can afford armies of lawyers and content moderators.
Congress wrote SESTA-FOSTA with good intentions, but they fundamentally misunderstood how the internet works. They thought they could surgically remove bad actors without affecting everyone else. Instead, they handed platforms a legal excuse to censor broadly and consolidate power.
The next time politicians promise to “fix” the internet with targeted legislation, remember SESTA-FOSTA. Sometimes the cure really is worse than the disease.