WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today applauded the Senate Commerce Committee’s passage of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S. 1693), bipartisan legislation he cosponsored that would help ensure justice for victims of sex trafficking, and allow websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking to be held responsible.
“Websites that help sex traffickers should be shut down,” said Dr. Cassidy. “The goal of this bill is to keep the innocent from being exploited by terrible people.”
The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act would clarify Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to ensure that websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking can be held liable.
The bipartisan bill would:
- Allow victims of sex trafficking to seek justice against websites that knowingly facilitated the crimes against them;
- Eliminate federal liability protections for websites that assist, support, or facilitate a violation of federal sex trafficking laws; and
- 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.