Internet industry drops opposition to U.S. bill to fight online sex trafficking

The U.S. Internet industry has announced that they will support legislation that will allow for the penalisation of website operators that facilitate online sex trafficking.  The amendment has been controversial as it would hold social media networks, advertisers and other actors in the Internet industry accountable for the content on their platforms. As it would remove legal protection for Internet companies related to the content uploaded by users, it was long opposed by the industry. Recently, tech companies have started to negotiate certain clauses, such as that websites are liable only when they ‘knowingly’ assist the facilitation of trafficking. The US Senate Commerce Committee will vote on the bill next week.