WASHINGTON — To combat the ills of the internet, federal lawmakers have increasingly focused on a decades-old law that shields tech companies like Facebook and YouTube from liability for content posted by their users. Last year, lawmakers approved chipping away at the law, voting overwhelmingly to hold tech platforms accountable when people use their sites for sex-trafficking schemes. And even some lawmakers who have championed a crackdown on Big Tech are now calling to revisit the change. Law enforcement officials say that it is sometimes more difficult to track traffickers, because the law pushed them further underground. The removal of sites advertising sex hinders their ability to vet their clients, the advocates say, and is pushing more of them onto the streets.

Source: New York Times December 17, 2019 22:18 UTC