Congress passes anti-sex trafficking bill supported by Cook County sheriff

Congress has passed anti-online sex trafficking legislation long supported by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, prompting Craigslist to remove its personals ads and leading other prostitution-themed websites to shut down.

The U.S. Senate last week overwhelmingly approved the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, HR 1865, which would add harsher penalties for companies that advertise or facilitate sex trafficking. The bill has yet to be signed into law.

"This legislation will give victims and survivors of sex trafficking the justice they deserve from companies that unabashedly destroy lives for financial gain," Dart said in a news release. "This is something for which we've long been fighting."

Dart has been crusading against the online promotion of prostitution and sex trafficking since he was elected sheriff in 2006. In 2009, he sued Craigslist in an attempt to remove the site's "erotic services" section. He also started a National Johns Suppression Initiative, which aims to end the demand for sex buying.

In response to the new legislation, Craigslist on Friday announced the removal of its personals section, saying the website could be found liable if users "misuse online personals unlawfully."

"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," a statement on the website says. "Hopefully we can bring them back some day."

Reddit also has removed its prostitution-themed subreddits. Other sex trafficking discussion boards and prostitution websites, including The Erotic Review and CityVibe, have shut down their U.S. pages, according to a news release from Dart's office.

"We're already seeing significant results from the Senate passage alone," Dart said.