GOP Senator Josh Hawley’s Bill Allows Lawsuits Against Porn Sites

LOS ANGELES—A new U.S. Senate bill introduced by Missouri Republican Josh Hawley would make it easier for people who say they have been depicted in non-consensual sexually explicit images to sue sites that post the videos, according to a report by the The Kansas City Star. The bill would appear to contradict the provisions of the internet free speech law known as Section 230, which shields online platforms from liability for content posted by third-party users. The bill seems to try getting around the Section 230 provisions by specifying that sites must “knowingly” distribute the non-consensual videos to be legally liable. Hawley has long been an outspoken opponent of the 24-year-old Section 230 law. In June of 2019, the first-term Senator and former Missouri attorney general introduced a bill that would strip Section 230 protections from “big tech” firms — those with more than 30 million U.S.-based users, 300 million worldwide users, or $500 million in annual revenue. That bill has not progressed in the Senate, but his new bill has at least some bipartisan support. New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan has signed on as one of the three co-sponsors with Hawley. The other two co-sponsors are Republicans — Joni Ersnt of Iowa, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Titled the “Survivors of Human Trafficking Fight Back Act,” the new bill if passed would make “knowing distribution of visual depictions of forced or coerced sex acts” as well as other forms of non-consensual sexual images illegal — making sites criminally liable for posting such images. But it would also let people who say they are victims of non-consensual images sue the sites where they are posted. Hawley’s new bill would also seem to be in conflict with his 2019 bill, which is aimed at restricting online platforms’ ability to monitor and “moderate” user content on their sites.  According to Michael Beckerman, CEO of the Internet Association, a tech-industry lobbying group, Hawley’s 2019 bill would take away the ability of sites to remove illegal content, such as nonconsensual, sexual content, or violent extremism. Photo By Natureofthought / Wikimedia Commons