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Caught Our Eye

Craigslist comes to D.C. for sex-traffic fight

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Dec. 8, 2017

Craigslist has finally begun to lobby, adding its name to the list of Silicon Valley power players trying to influence a bipartisan sex-trafficking bill.

Sidley Austin answered Craigslist's inaugural lobbyist-wanted ad last week, according to a disclosure filed yesterday.

The bipartisan lobbying team, which includes former Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), is focusing on a pair of bills - the Senate's Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and the House's Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act. The bills would allow prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims alike to sue websites whose third-party content facilitates sex work.

Craigslist is not alone in trying to reshape the sex-trafficking legislation. The Internet Association, which represents major Silicon Valley players including Google, Amazon and Facebook, initially opposed SESTA but has since come out in favor of the bill after revisions to what constituted "knowingly" engaging in sex trafficking.