Latest modern slavery fight updates - FreedomUnited.org

Has FOSTA-SESTA Eliminated 90% of Online Sex Trafficking Ads?

  • Published on
    August 21, 2018
  • News Source Image
  • Category:
    Child Slavery, Human Trafficking, Law & Policy
Hero Banner

In April, President Trump signed into law FOSTA-SESTA in an attempt to cut down on online sex trafficking ads. Five months later, sponsors of the House bill, Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), and Senate bill, Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) claim to be winning the fight against traffickers.

Rep. Ann Wagner, the key sponsor of FOSTA, released a video on July 20 in which she says, “We have shut down nearly 90 percent of the online sex trafficking business and ads.” But is this statistic true?

Related Campaign: Protect runaway & homeless youth from trafficking.

Glenn Kessler from The Washington Post did some fact checking:

When asked for evidence, Wagner’s office sent a chart that tracked all sex-related advertising, saying that it showed weekly global ad volume dropped 87 percent from January to April.

The chart was generated through a system called Memex, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA Memex has since evolved into Tellfinder, managed by Uncharted Software.

The biggest drop in ads came after the shutdown of Backpage, which came even before Trump signed FOSTA-SESTA into law.

Wagner’s staff noted that a drop also took place after the laws achieved final passage in Congress on March 21, prompting sex-oriented websites such as CityVibe and the Erotic Review to begin to shut down in the United States.

Well, it turns out that after that initial drop, advertising for the sex trade appears to have rebounded, such as on new websites that mimic Backpage with names like “Bedpage.”

Worldwide ads had a daily average of about 105,000 when FOSTA-SESTA passed on March 21 and had dropped 28 percent by the time Backpage was closed on April 5.

It then plunged another 75 percent and reached a low of 19,456 on April 17, for a total decline of about 82 percent.

In other words, “The volume of ads dropped dramatically after the shutdown of Backpage but has been climbing since,” said Chris Dickson, director of research engineering at Uncharted. “There is now a volume approaching what we observed before.”

Wagner’s claim is also based on her belief that all sex work equates to sex trafficking. In a House floor speech in July, she said, “Signing FOSTA into law has decimated the online sex trade that fuels human trafficking in America.”

Although she celebrates a decline in online “sex-trafficking business and ads,” in truth she is measuring the decline in online advertising for all sex work.

The conclusion? “Wagner may be sincere in her belief that sex work in general fuels human trafficking but it’s a bit of stretch to say a 90 percent decline in sex-trade ads means there is a 90 percent decline in the sex-trafficking business,” writes Kessler.

“There’s really no way to be sure, and it’s misleading to suggest otherwise.”

Subscribe

Freedom United is interested in hearing from our community and welcomes relevant, informed comments, advice, and insights that advance the conversation around our campaigns and advocacy. We value inclusivity and respect within our community. To be approved, your comments should be civil.

stop icon A few things we do not tolerate: comments that promote discrimination, prejudice, racism, or xenophobia, as well as personal attacks or profanity. We screen submissions in order to create a space where the entire Freedom United community feels safe to express and exchange thoughtful opinions.

Notify of
guest
4 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
ReapIt
2 years ago

Interesting to read. Helped me a lot.

TopBestAlternative
3 years ago
Reply to  audrey collins

Great Article. Really Informative. Thanks for sharing it.

Beatrix
Beatrix
5 years ago

It’s alarming how many legislators don’t do their homework. There any number of peer-reviewed, insightful books and articles written on the sex industry–and none of them have found a link between prostitution and sex trafficking. That is a line abolitionists say to uninformed individuals instead of saying they want all prostitution, coerced or consensual, to be eradicated. But they know the amount of resources necessary to topple the sex industry are enormous, so they say it’s trafficking.

audrey collins
5 years ago

actually backpage is still operating, they are now yesbackpage.com and all of the ads were trasfered. they host it offshore, so there is nothign the us can do.

This week

Canada ombudsperson report exposes Dynasty Gold's complicity in Uyghur forced labor

The Canada Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) released its first final report this week after a complaint filed in 2022 against Vancouver company Dynasty Gold. Reuters reports that the complaint came from a coalition of 28 human rights groups including the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. It claimed that the company benefited from the use of Uyghur forced labor at a mine in China in which they held

| Tuesday March 26, 2024

Read more