There are 26 words in our constitution that protect websites from being held liable for the content their users post, known as Section 230.
Seems like a good thing, right? Congress thought the original provision was too permissive and passed a new policy in April of 2018 called FOSTA-SESTA, just a couple days before our sugar baby conference event in NYC.
The new law explicitly states that websites facilitating, supporting or assisting sex trafficking or sex work are not protected by Section 230, meaning websites like the one I worked for could be held legally responsible for their permissive platforms. Back then, I assumed the law would be enforced and the website would be shut down any day. I was wrong. As of today, the website is still very much active. Why, you ask? Idk, but those are the types of questions we need to be asking.
The FOSTA-SESTA bill (linked below), April 11, 2018, credit Congress.gov.
An article about the sugar baby conference, April 16, 2018, credit The Sun (UK)
One of the speakers at the event touting “empowerment,” which was one of our strategies. We told the vulnerable and naive sugar babies that they were “empowered.” Nothing could be further from the truth. April 13, 2018
One of the panelists who also became a friend, and me after the event.
