The Financial Times | September 19, 2017:
Google and other tech groups came under cross-party pressure from lawmakers on Tuesday as an effort to combat sex trafficking turned into a test of Washington’s new wariness of the power of big tech companies.
Senior Republicans and Democrats voiced their support for a bill that would let victims of sex trafficking sue websites that enable it, legislation opposed by big tech groups that say it is a threat to the internet’s vibrancy.
The bill is gaining momentum in Washington as a parallel controversy rages over Russia’s use of Facebook to spread political ads, putting internet companies under intense scrutiny over their responsibility for the content carried on their platforms.
For years big tech companies have enjoyed considerable goodwill in the US capital, but the tide has turned against them this year as the rising power of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple raises concerns ranging from political influence to antitrust issues.
The sex trafficking bill that was debated at a Senate hearing on Tuesday would modify an exemption internet companies currently enjoy from criminal liability for illegal actions by their users, instead making them liable for publishing information designed to facilitate trafficking.
John Thune, the Republican chairman of the Senate commerce committee, said: “I believe that these companies — like the rest of us — have an obligation to do more.”
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