Democrats want data on how sex workers were hurt by online crackdown

On Tuesday, lawmakers put out a new proposal that would require the federal government to study how a pair of laws that targeted online sex trafficking broadly kicked sex workers off the internet last year.

In the lead-up to the passage of Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) / Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) last year, advocacy groups and sex workers rallied over how the bills could make them less safe by forcing sex workers off the internet where they build communities, screen potential clients for threats, and negotiate the terms of their work with others. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has long opposed these measures, and in an effort to convince his colleagues to repeal them, he introduced the SAFE...

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