Biden’s nominee to sit on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) currently sits on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that has vehemently opposed bipartisan legislation designed to protect sex trafficking victims.
Gigi Sohn — who Biden nominated this month for a vacant FCC seat previously held by Ajit Pai, the agency’s former chairman — joined EFF’s board of directors in December 2018 after being a “close collaborator” with the group for nearly two decades, according to EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn. That same year, EFF unleashed an assault on two bipartisan efforts to hold sex traffickers accountable and protect victims.
EFF has focused its ire particularly on the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). The two bills were combined into one package that passed the House by a margin of 388-25 and passed the Senate in a 97-2 vote in early 2018 before former President Donald Trump signed it into law a month later.
The legislation notably created a new federal criminal and civil liability for any individual who “owns, manages, or operates an interactive computer service” or hosts third-party content, with the intent to “promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person.” It also created liabilities for platforms that assists, supports, or facilitates sex trafficking. Broadly, it aimed to block websites from providing platforms for prostitution and sex trafficking.
