Finally, there is progress in the arena of sex trafficking. The United States Congress just passed a new law called FOSTA SESTA, which stands for Fight online sex trafficking act. Already this law has banned sites like backpage.com and craigslist personals, which were major marketplaces used by people selling sex and casual encounters.
The good news is that we have made it more difficult for illegal sexual activities to happen. The bad news is that this law only affects united states websites. Most companies have moved their websites to safe havens like Australia. Switter.at, for example, allows sexual providers a place to their sex ads, and is hosted in Australia, outside the jurisdiction of united states law. As this site's list shows, there are dozens of backpage alternatives and replacements that have popped up since FOSTA SESTA.
So what can we do about it?
While this is a major victory, we need to work on expanding FOSTA SESTA type laws to more countries around the globe, this will reduce the number of places that sites like backpage can be hosted. We also need to find a new approach to sex work, by either regulating it or making it more difficult for providers to operate.
