Free Speech

January 17, 2023

CS 195, Spring 2023 @ UC Berkeley

Lisa Yan

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LECTURE 01

Course Information

Lecture 01, CS195, Spring 2023

Course Information

Purpose of This Course

Free Speech

Twitter and Platform Rules

Facebook and Moderation

Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

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About Us: Lisa Yan

Lisa Yan: Berkeley teaching faculty since 2022

• EECS B.S. from UC Berkeley 2013
• Ph.D. from Stanford 2019. Taught at Stanford 2019-2021.
• 2nd time teaching this class!
• My own learning:�Cultural Competency in Computing Fellow (2021-2023)

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About Us

Ethan: 2nd year MS studying Computer Science Education

• From San Jose, UG @ Caltech
• TA’d 61B for 3 terms, now working on CS (H)195
• Specifically interested in autograders (both a PL and HCI sense), forums and self-efficacy, curriculum design, DEI in teaching computing
• Other interests: rock climbing, puzzles, my pet snake named Cat
• Please feel free to reach out & connect! :)

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Policies and Course Activities

Course Website:

https://eecs.link/cs195

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Ethics Requirement + Advertising CS H195

CS H195: 3 unit class that is led by our GSI Ethan.

• In addition to CS 195, you’ll attend a weekly�Friday 4-5pm in-person discussion section.
• Goes into more depth on 195 topics.
• Focuses on societal lenses like equity, inclusion, and �various sociopolitical structural barriers.
• Speaking by Ethan and you.
• Interesting projects that replace the usual 195 essays.

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Application deadline: Wednesday January 25, 11:59pm PT

We welcome all!! Meetings start this Friday!

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Other classes that satisfy CoE ethics requirement: BioE 100*; CS 195, H195; Data C104*; Ene,Res C100*; Engin 125*, 157AC*, 185*; History C184D*; IAS 157AC*; Info 88A, ISF 100D*, 100G*; NwMedia 151AC*; PubPol C184*, PubPol W184*; STS C104D.

Application form

https://forms.gle/ri7uEfLdox1ETaZWA

Purpose of This Course

Lecture 01, CS195, Spring 2023

Course Information

Purpose of This Course

Free Speech

Twitter and Platform Rules

Facebook and Moderation

Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

7

Why Does This Course Exist? (And Why Is It Required?)

Computing has consequences.

UC Berkeley is special.

You (and your experiences) are powerful.

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What are the Goals of the Course

• Inform yourselves about the impact of technology.
• Reflect on how computing has changed society.
• Understand how technology developers shape that change.
• Consider what role you might have in this process.
• Apply some classical ideas about morality to modern problems.
• Think critically about policies, organizations, and actions.
• Learn to integrate other points of view into your own perspective.

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What Are the Social Implications of Computing Technology?

This is an open question for you, the students. Your answers:

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Answer via pollEverywhere (next slide)

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🤔

(individual)

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Social Implications of Computing Technology

How we most often think of the interplay between technology and society

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Society

Computing Technology

Social Implications of Computing Technology

How we most often think of the interplay between technology and society

What we want to teach

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Society

Computing Technology

You

• How do our experiences affect the way we use technology?
• How do our social values affect the technology we create?
• Who do we share technology with, and why? Who tells us what to do?

Lecture Topics

Tentative Lecture Topics for this Semester:

• Privacy
• Algorithmic Decision Making
• Copyright & Intellectual Property
• Software Risks
• Government Censorship & Surveillance
• Politics & Media
• Jobs
• Education
• Wealth and Capitalism
• Memes
• Attention
• Future of Humanity

We are aiming for a few guest speakers!

Details TBD.

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Please respond to the Welcome Survey!

Some topics may get dropped based on your responses.

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Week 1 Survey: Who are you? (104 responses and counting)

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We’re working on expanding this course! Please stay tuned for more info later this week.

Take the Welcome Survey here

Week 1 Survey: Who are you? (104 responses and counting)

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Product/engineering role at a primarily tech company

Grad school in STEM

I have no clue

Take the Welcome Survey here

Week 1 Survey: Who are you? (104 responses and counting)

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Take the Welcome Survey here

Week 1 Survey: Who are you?

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It is ethical to own a 50 million dollar personal yacht.

I think the campus should have more remote class opportunities this fall.

I think the campus should have returned to in-person classes faster than they did.

I think the UC-wide academic workers strike in Fall 2022 was justified.

I think the UC-wide academic workers strike in Fall 2022 did more harm than good.

Take the Welcome Survey here

Week 1 Survey: Who are you?

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I generally supported U.S. President Trump.

I generally support U.S. President Biden.

I care about politics.

Morality is relative, not universal.

The internet has had a net positive impact on humanity.

The time that I spend online is well spent.

Take the Welcome Survey here

Week 1 Survey: Who are you?

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US Intelligence Agencies should have the capability to access the contents of any computer.

Social media platforms should have some restrictions even beyond what is legally required.

People with technology skills have a moral obligation to positively contribute to society with those skills.

Universal basic income is a good way to help those negatively affected by job automation.

Well-paid tech workers in the Bay Area have a responsibility to mitigate the impacts of income inequality.

Related terms we’ll discuss in later lectures:

Meritocracy, Market Fundamentalism, Technological Solutionism

Take the Welcome Survey here

Summary of Welcome Survey (so far)

Many of you are here for the ethics requirement! (84.6%)

• You will get out of CS195 what you put into it.
• Most of you also shared that you would likely be here regardless (61.6%)
• Or that you definitely find these topics interesting (particularly re: AI and bias)

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Many of you:

• are interested in a “high-tech”/”tech” career.
• want to earn money in your career.

Tech careers, left-leaning views, etc are dominant, but they are not universal. Not even at UC Berkeley!!

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Note: As instructors we also come in with our own views. Keep that in mind as we go through this course. Please feel free to challenge and ask questions.

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Take the Welcome Survey here

Free Speech

Lecture 01, CS195, Spring 2023

Course Information

Purpose of This Course

Free Speech

Twitter Rules and Free Speech

Facebook and Moderation

Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

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The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

[congress.gov]

This class (naturally) is very U.S.-centric:

• Many computing technologies that we discuss are founded/operated in the U.S.
• U.S. values (law, cultural identity, etc.) make their way into these technologies.

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The Internet allows anybody to broadcast any information they’d like.

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Starting question:

Why does this behavior on the internet need to be “governed” or “monitored”?

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Breakout: Why govern/monitor what people post on the internet?

Is absolute freedom of speech a good thing?

If not, what are some examples where speech should be somehow restricted�(by companies, governments, etc.)? Why?

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Breakout activity: 5 minutes

• Introduce yourselves!
• Pick one person to post a group stickynote to this Google Jamboard:

https://tinyurl.com/cs195-lec01-jam

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🤔🤔🤔

(breakout)

International Rights Law

To counter hate speech, the United Nations supports more positive speech and upholds respect for freedom of expression as the norm. Therefore, any restrictions must be an exception and seek to prevent harm and ensure equality or the public participation of all.

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[United Nations link]

Free Speech and Platforms

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Companies clearly have the right to regulate content on their websites.

How does this regulation transform discourse?

Country 1

People

Country 1 Media�(public, corporate)

Country 1�Government

Country 1

People

Social Media (corporate)

Country 1�Government

Country 2�Government

Country 2

People

Country 2

People

Country 2 Media�(public, corporate)

Country 2�Government

Before “The Internet”:

Now, with social media:

Twitter and Platform Rules

Lecture 01, CS195, Spring 2023

Course Information

Purpose of This Course

Free Speech

Twitter and Platform Rules

Facebook and Moderation

Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

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Twitter’s Evolving Rules

Old rules (2009):

Our goal is to provide a service that allows you to discover and receive content from sources that interest you as well as to share your content with others. We respect the ownership of the content that users share and each user is responsible for the content he or she provides. Because of these principles, we do not actively monitor and will not censor user content, except in limited circumstances described below.

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�����

(emphasis ours)

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Twitter’s Evolving Rules

Old rules (2009):

Our goal is to provide a service that allows you to discover and receive content from sources that interest you as well as to share your content with others. We respect the ownership of the content that users share and each user is responsible for the content he or she provides. Because of these principles, we do not actively monitor and will not censor user content, except in limited circumstances described below.

2016 rules:

We believe that everyone should have the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. In order to protect the experience and safety of people who use Twitter, there are some limitations on the type of content and behavior that we allow. All users must adhere to the policies set forth in the Twitter Rules. Failure to do so may result in the temporary locking and/or permanent suspension of account(s).

(emphasis ours)

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[Vice, 2016]

Twitter’s Evolving Rules

2016 rules:

We believe that everyone should have the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. In order to protect the experience and safety of people who use Twitter, there are some limitations on the type of content and behavior that we allow. All users must adhere to the policies set forth in the Twitter Rules. Failure to do so may result in the temporary locking and/or permanent suspension of account(s).

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Latest rules (November 2022, link):

Twitter's purpose is to serve the public conversation. Violence, harassment and other similar types of behavior discourage people from expressing themselves, and ultimately diminish the value of global public conversation. Our rules are to ensure all people can participate in the public conversation freely and safely.�

(emphasis ours)

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[Vice, 2016]

A Brief Timeline of Twitter

2009 568 words, covering: “Impersonation, Privacy, Violence and Threats, Copyright, Unlawful Use, Serial Accounts, Name Squatting, Malware/Phishing, Spam, and Pornography.”

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2012 Twitter’s UK General Manager: Twitter is the “free speech wing of the free speech party.”

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2013 Caroline Criado-Perez create a petition demanding that Jane Austen replace Charles Darwin on new bank note.�Reaction: Torrent of misogynistic abuse on Twitter.

UK jails three of the users.

Twitter adds a “Report Abuse” button, and modifies rules:�“You may not engage in targeted abuse or harassment”

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[Vice, 2016]

Twitter’s Evolving Rules

2014 GamerGate harassment campaign [wikipedia]

• Purportedly promote ethics in video games journalism, protect “gamer” identity, opposite political correctness in video games
• In practice: culture war and targeted harassment campaign against prominent women in video game industry
• Twitter comes under fire for failure to protect victims + lax account creation policies that circumvented account blocking, enable doxxing, etc.�

2015 Twitter bans excessively violent media, revenge porn, threatening or promoting terrorism, promoting violence against others on the basis of race/ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age or disability.

2016 Twitter rewrites its rules entirely, changing the tone dramatically:

Freedom of expression means little as our underlying philosophy if we allow voices to be silenced because they are afraid to speak up.

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[Vice, 2016]

Twitter’s Evolving Rules?

Late Oct 22 Elon Musk officially buys Twitter.� Musk claims himself to be a free speech absolutist.�� Hate speech suddenly rises on the platform [NYTimes 2022]

Nov 2022 New Twitter rules announced� Twitter's purpose is to serve the public conversation…

�Companies start pausing advertising on Twitter (Pfizer, Audi, General Mills, General Motors, etc.) [ABC, WSJ]

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Dec 2022 Rules updated to include no doxxing: “including information shared on Twitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes.” [APNews]

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[ABC 2022; NYTimes 2022]

What are your thoughts on trolling?

In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online …, or in real life, with the intent of provoking others into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perception.

[Wikipedia]

Do you troll? What are your thoughts on trolling?

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Respond individually on pollEverywhere!

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🤔

(individual)

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xkcd has a comic for everything, kind of

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Note: This xkcd focuses on trolling and thus trivializes how hate speech has actively harmed individuals.

Explanation of this xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1357:_Free_Speech

International Rights Law, Continued

Rabat threshold test (2016)�Translated into 32 languages in�collaboration with Facebook in 2020.�

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UN Senior Human Rights and Technology Officer:

The Rabat test is a tool that can be easily understood, even though it addresses a complex human rights issue. It is a tool that can be used by any social media company, such as Twitter or YouTube, as a framework for examining when a post or image merits a restriction

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[UN Rabat threshold test]

Facebook and Moderation

Lecture 01, CS195, Spring 2023

Course Information

Purpose of This Course

Free Speech

Twitter and Platform Rules

Facebook and Moderation

Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

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2018: Facebook’s Secret Rulebook for Monitoring Posts

In December 2018, 1,400 pages of Facebook’s internal rulebook were leaked.

• “How can Facebook monitor billions of posts per day in over 100 languages, all without disturbing the endless expansion that is core to its business? The company’s solution: a network of workers using a maze of PowerPoint slides spelling out what’s forbidden.”
• “The Facebook employees who meet to set the guidelines, mostly young engineers and lawyers, try to distill highly complex issues into simple yes-or-no rules. Then the company outsources much of the actual post-by-post moderation to companies that enlist largely unskilled workers, many hired out of call centers.”
• “The company never set out to play this role, but in an effort to control problems of its own creation, it has quietly become, with a speed that makes even employees uncomfortable, what is arguably one of the world’s most powerful political regulators.”

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[NYTimes, 2018]

2018: Facebook’s Secret Rulebook for Monitoring Posts

Example: “The Hate List”

• Facebook’s [has an] Excel spreadsheet that names every group and individual the company has... barred as a hate figure. Moderators... remove any post praising, supporting or representing any listed figure.
• “Countries where Facebook faces government pressure seem to be better covered... Facebook blocks dozens of far-right groups in Germany, where authorities scrutinize [Facebook], but only one in neighboring Austria.”
• “The list includes ... groups with one foot in the political mainstream, like the far-right Golden Dawn, which holds seats in the Greek and European Union parliaments.”
• The bans are a kind of shortcut, said Sana Jaffrey, who studies Indonesian politics at the University of Chicago. Asking moderators to look for a banned name or logo is easier than asking them to make judgment calls about when political views are dangerous.

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[NYTimes, 2018]

2020: The Facebook “Supreme Court” (a.k.a. Oversight Board)

From “Inside the Making of Facebook’s Supreme Court” article:

• “Since its founding, in 2004, Facebook had modelled itself as a haven of free expression on the Internet.”
• “But in the past few years, as conspiracy theories, hate speech, and disinformation have spread on the platform, critics have come to worry that the company poses a danger to democracy.”
• “Facebook promised to change that with the Oversight Board: it would assemble a council of sage advisers—the group eventually included humanitarian activists, a former Prime Minister, and a Nobel laureate—who would hear appeals over what kind of speech should be allowed on the site.”
• “Its decisions would be binding, overruling even those of Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder.”
• Conceived in 2018, began work in 2020.

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[NewYorker, 2021]

2021: Trump’s Facebook Ban

• January 6th: U.S. Capitol is attacked by a group of Trump supporters who disputed the results of the Presidential election.
• “Trump had urged on the mob by repeatedly claiming, on Facebook and elsewhere, that the election had been stolen from him.” [BusinessInsider]
• January 6th: Trump released a video “tepidly disavowing violence and reiterating his claims of a fraudulent election:”

These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.

• Facebook removes two of Trump’s posts, Meta CEO Zuckerberg indefinitely suspends Trump’s account.”
• Oversight Board upheld suspension, recommended revision of indefinite nature
• Side note: Twitter banned Trump permanently at this time, reinstated Nov 2022

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[NewYorker, 2021]

Trump’s Facebook Ban

• On one hand: The platforms failed in regulating the accounts, of course, since he was inciting violence, and they banned him for that only after egregious violence resulted,”
• Susan Benesch, founding director of the Dangerous Speech Project,.
• “But banning him did lower his megaphone. It disrupted his ties with his large audience.”
• On the other hand: Facebook had wielded its power to silence a democratically elected leader.
• “The fifth most valuable corporation in the U.S., worth over seven hundred billion dollars, a near monopoly in its market niche, has restricted a political figure’s speech to his thirty million followers,” Eugene Volokh (UCLA, Law).
• “Maybe that’s just fine. Maybe it’s even a public service. But it’s a remarkable power for any entity, public or private, to have.”

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[NewYorker, 2021]

Breakout Discussion

Should Facebook (and Twitter) have banned Donald Trump?

In what circumstances should tech companies ban widely influential leaders from their platform?

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Breakout activity: 5 minutes

• Same breakouts from before!
• After discussion, pick a different person to be the Recorder, who will post a response to the pollEverywhere.

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🤔🤔🤔

(breakout)

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Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

Lecture 01, CS195, Spring 2023

Course Information

Purpose of This Course

Free Speech

Twitter and Platform Rules

Facebook and Moderation

Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

46

Government Regulation of Speech

Governments also play a role in setting speech standards through regulation.

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Examples:

• English Licensing Order (1643)
• John Milton: “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
• Radio Act (1927)
• E.g. why some words need to be “bleeped”
• Communications Decency Act (1996), especially Section 230.
• FOSTA-SESTA (2018)

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Let’s discuss the origins of Section 230 and its implication about the internet.

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Judicial Review in the United States

The Supreme Court (composed of 9 judges, appointed by the president) and its lower courts have the ability to establish “precedent” by ruling on various cases.

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The rulings on these cases can have a profound impact.

• Brown vs. Board of Education (1954): Ends explicit racial segregation in all public schools in the nation.
• Roe vs. Wade (1973): Rules that the U.S. Constitution protects a pregnant woman's right to an abortion (i.e., a national right).
• Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022): Overrules Roe v. Wade, gives individual states the full power to regulate any aspect of abortion not protected by federal law.

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Stratten Oakmont vs. Prodigy (1995)

• In 1994, an anonymous member of Prodigy (online e-commerce/discussion board) accused the president of Stratten Oakmont (investment firm) of fraud.
• Since the user was anonymous, Stratten Oakmont sued Prodigy.
• Prodigy claims it’s a library; cannot be held liable for the content of its books.

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In Stratten Oakmont vs. Prodigy Services (1995) in New York Supreme Court:

• NY’s Supreme Court disagreed, and said that because Prodigy did monitor content (e.g. filtering abusive language), it was more like a newspaper.
• This set the precedent that platforms like Prodigy (or Facebook, Tiktok, etc.) would be liable for user content…?

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Contradicts federal district court ruling Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc. (1991): online service providers are not considered publishers.

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1996 Communications Decency Act (Section 230)

To resolve this contradiction, U.S. Congress passed Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act:

No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”�

[the 26 words that created the internet as we know it today]

• Eliminates legal requirement for platforms to police content of users.
• A bedrock of internet freedom in the U.S.

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Side note: The rest of the act sought to protect minors on internet. Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997) ruled that anti-indecency clauses violated free-speech.

Users are still legally responsible! If you commit scams, make threats, etc., you can be prosecuted.

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It’s just the platforms (and internet providers) that are immune.

The Power of Section 230

Courts have ruled time and time again that Section 230 is very powerful.

It immunizes:

• 2003: Ebay against sellers selling counterfeit goods [EFF]
• 2021: Snapchat against harm from drug dealers selling counterfeit pills containing lethal doses of Fentanyl: [WaPo]
• 2020: Peer to peer gun sales [Wikipedia] (https://www.armslist.com/)
• https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2020/05/armslist-wins-another-section-230-ruling-stokinger-v-armslist.htm

More examples: https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230/legal

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The big part: Section 230 has largely gone untouched legislatively since 1996.

Section 230 and FOSTA-SESTA

Section 230 has largely gone untouched legislatively since 1996.

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One notable exception: FOSTA-SESTA (2018)

• Specifically excludes immunization for facilitation of prostitution.
• FOSTA: Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act.
• Passed 388-25 in the House of Representatives.
• SESTA: Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act.
• Passed 97-2 in the Senate.

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(see the bonus slides for FOSTA-SESTA backstory with Backpage, a Craigslist competitor)

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Section 230 and FOSTA-SESTA, Repercussions

Section 230:

No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

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“Any tool or service can be misused. We can't take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services, so we are regretfully taking craigslist personals offline.”

FOSTA-SESTA

Whether or not FOSTA-SESTA is working as intended is a hotly debated topic and is beyond the scope of our course (but we might come back to it).

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[NYTimes]

Side note about Tumblr

As of November 2022, adult content is now allowed again:

Nudity and other kinds of adult material are generally welcome. We’re not here to judge your art, we just ask that you add a Community Label to your mature content so that people can choose to filter it out of their Dashboard if they prefer.

…

Blogs which have a focus on mature content may not be eligible for certain Tumblr features, including monetization options. We need to consider the policies of our partners in the payments space, so the rules there are a bit different.

(emphasis ours)

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The Future of Section 230?

Trump’s Executive Order on Section 230: (Link)

• “In May 2020, Trump issued an executive order aimed at limiting the legal protection offered by Section 230. The move came after Twitter appended fact checks to several of his tweets regarding voting by mail. The president has long feuded with big tech companies, arguing they are trying to “rig the election” against him and are masquerading as neutral while suppressing content they disagree with.”

Joe Biden during his campaign called for Section 230 to be overturned.

• “Section 230 should be revoked immediately… for Zuckerberg and other platforms… I, for one, think we should be considering taking away [Facebook's] exemption that they cannot be sued for … promoting something that's not true.”
• That said, Joe Biden overturned Trump’s executive order in May 2021.

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In Other Words...

Trump and Biden have suggested repealing Section 230 for two different reasons:

• Trump upset that his tweets are fact checked.
• Biden upset that there is not enough fact checking in general.

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But so far, the 2021-2023 Democrat led government has initiated no changes to policy.

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Announcements and reminders

Drop by honors discussion with Ethan this Friday 1/20, 4-5pm, Soda 405.

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Complete the Welcome Form/Weekly Survey 01 for credit:�Welcome Form

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Readings and Weekly Survey 02 for next Lecture Tuesday 1/24 released later this week (check out Ed)

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If you need access to Ed, email Ethan.

Website: https://eecs.link/cs195

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[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

Lecture 01, CS195, Spring 2023

Course Information

Purpose of This Course

Free Speech

Twitter and Platform Rules

Facebook and Moderation

Free Speech, Technology, and U.S. Law

[Extra] FOSTA-SESTA and Backpage

59

Backpage

In 2004, Backpage.com was founded as an online classified ad site.

• Direct competitor to craigslist.

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Backpage’s fate

2010 Craigslist closes Adult Services in response to pressures and accusations about facilitating prostitution.��Backpage, a direct competitor, does not.

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[Wikipedia]

Backpage

This 2011 archive show a much more prominent adult services section.

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By 2017, 99% of its $340 million dollars of annual revenue was from sex related ads [Source].

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M.A. vs. Village Voice Media

In 2011, Backpage won a major legal challenge [Link]:

• “A minor who was trafficked in part via advertisements posted on Backpage.com sued Village Voice, the owner of Backpage, alleging that the company aided and abetted her trafficking. The court rejected the claim. First, the court held Backpage retained its immunity as a content provider under § 230 despite allegations that it had general notice of illegal advertisements on the site and profited from such ads. Second, Village Voice was not guilty of aiding and abetting, which requires acting with specific intent to aid in the commission of a crime. Since the plaintiff did not allege that Backpage acted with specific intent to aid in the victim's trafficking, the court rejected the aiding and abetting allegation.”

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�

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JANE DOE NO v. BACKPAGE COM LLC

In 2016, Backpage won yet another major legal challenge [Link]:

• “This suit involves advertisements posted in the “Escorts” section for three young women—all minors at the relevant times—who claim to have been victims of sex trafficking. Suing pseudonymously, the women allege that Backpage, with an eye to maximizing its profits, engaged in a course of conduct designed to facilitate sex traffickers' efforts to advertise their victims on the website. This strategy, the appellants say, led to their victimization.”

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JANE DOE NO v. BACKPAGE COM LLC

In 2016, Backpage won yet another major legal challenge [Link]:

• “As a final matter, we add a coda. The appellants' core argument is that Backpage has tailored its website to make sex trafficking easier. Aided by the amici, the appellants have made a persuasive case for that proposition. But Congress did not sound an uncertain trumpet when it enacted the CDA, and it chose to grant broad protections to internet publishers. Showing that a website operates through a meretricious business model is not enough to strip away those protections. If the evils that the appellants have identified are deemed to outweigh the First Amendment values that drive the CDA, the remedy is through legislation, not through litigation.”

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Backpage’s fate

2010 Craigslist closes Adult Services in response to pressures and accusations about facilitating prostitution.��Backpage, a direct competitor, does not.

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2018 April 6: Backpage is seized by FBI, charged with facilitating prostitution, conspiracy, money laundering, etc.��April 11: FOSTA-SESTA becomes law

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2021 Federal Judge Brnovich declares a mistrial, reschedules trial

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2023 Trial is still ongoing

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[Wikipedia]