Deplatforming sexual speech in the age of FOSTA/SESTA

The 2018 US anti-sex trafficking laws Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) were intended to limit the use of online communication platforms as illegal sexual commerce hubs. Several years later, sex trafficking prosecutions have plummeted, and US law enforcement agencies lament the loss of internet sites like Backpage where they previously identified victims. Instead, a range of serious consequences like the diminishment of global sex workers’ rights and the chilling of sexual speech abound. FOSTA/SESTA are analyzed as part of the deplatforming of sex, and as having emboldened technology corporations to make sweeping changes to the sexual content that can exist on mainstream platforms like Google. Digital platforms are central to sexuality, and thus we must articulate and defend our rights against government intrusion and overreaching corporate content moderation. Citizens deserve to pursue consensual sexual lives and protecting the ability to do so, even when that entails challenging laws and oligopolistic technology corporations’ policies, is a social justice mandate.