[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H5440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FIGHTING ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on the U.S. House of 
Representatives to bring my bipartisan Allow States and Victims to 
Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act to the floor.
  Yesterday, The Washington Post revealed that backpage.com hired a 
contractor to solicit and create illegal sex trafficking ads. This 
confirms yet again what we have long known about Backpage: it is an 
online slave market that actively sells America's innocent women and 
children for sex.
  If a business in America held a slave auction, it is impossible for 
me to imagine that the auctioneer would be able to carry on with 
impunity. After all, we amended the U.S. Constitution to ban slavery of 
all forms in the United States many years ago. But this is exactly what 
is happening with backpage.com. Backpage is selling our children into 
sex slavery, and we must hold them accountable.
  Backpage and other online slave markets can sell America's children 
over and over again because courts have misinterpreted section 230 of 
the Communications Decency Act to shield websites from criminal 
liability for the sex trafficking advertisements that they facilitate.
  But the Communications Decency Act, passed over 20 years ago, was 
never intended to create a lawless internet where people can commit sex 
crimes online that they cannot commit offline. In fact, this 
misinterpretation of the CDA is the height of irony.
  Speaking in favor of the CDA in 1995, then-Senator Exon said: ``The 
information superhighway should not become a red-light district. Once 
this bill passes, our children and families will be better protected 
from those who would electronically cruise the digital world to engage 
children in inappropriate communications and introductions.''
  How sad his words ring today. The CDA, meant originally to protect 
children, has become now a safe harbor for America's pimps. The tech 
industry is rallying against any changes to the CDA, but freedom of 
speech online and the enforcement of the Nation's sex trafficking laws 
are in no way mutually exclusive. Sex trafficking is not a prerequisite 
of the free and open internet.
  Last year, in Jane Doe v. Backpage, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
First Circuit made clear that legislation is the only remedy to any 
conflict between the CDA and America's sex trafficking laws.

                              {time}  1030

  In other words, Congress must clarify to the courts that the 
Communications Decency Act does not protect sex trafficking, and that 
is precisely what the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex 
Trafficking Act will do.
  We must bring this legislation to the floor and take a stand for 
victims across the country. We cannot claim to be antitrafficking 
advocates, then close our eyes and give a free pass to the websites 
that sell our children.

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