As I see it, there are two issues and they are very different: individuals vs companies.
.
If a consenting adult wants to advertise escort services, that is free speech and was usually not investigated or prosecuted by LE until it was in flagrante delicto (caught in the act, with plenty of evidence). Even now, FOSTA SESTA is not targeting an individual who wants to post such an ad.
.
If a consenting adult wants to READ such ads, that is their right and there is nobody going after them. There have been laws about accessing and distributing child porn for many years. Child porn and trafficking are the major targets of all of these laws.
.
FOSTA SESTA is targeting the companies and websites that ALLOW posts relating to the promotion of prostitution, trafficking, child porn, etc.. To protect themselves, the companies (TER, et al.) are no longer accepting ads from consenting adults or anyone else in the US.
.
Support groups have successfully rescued children from exploitation by scanning ads on sites such as bea pee. I don't know the ratio of ads from consenting adults vs child trafficking on beepy. Anyone want to take a guess? Less that 1%? Less than 0.5%? Whatever ... the support groups were against FOSTA SESTA as it will now make it harder for them to find the children.
.
The only way to post ads on the internet is to "inject" them there. The only way to do that is via a company (beepie, etc., TER) and, ultimately, via an ISP (Verizon, ATT, Comcast, ...). The law is targeting the big companies and ISPs with the threat that: "If you post an ad promoting any of this stuff, we are going after YOU, not the lone person placing the ad." Hence, it is harder and harder for an individual to find a way to place an ad on the internet.
.
Even if an individual was savvy enough to bypass TER, bea pea, etc., by setting up their own tiny company, to set up a server in their basement or living room, and to connect to the internet via a local ISP (Verizon, etc.), the ISP could still shut them off the minute they determined that is was a company using them (Verizon) to post even ONE ad offering Escort services that LE would interpret as the promotion of prostitution. LE can't go after a lone Provider sitting in her kitchen making sandwiches for her kids. LE can only arrest a Provider "in the act." However, LE can now go after the companies that facilitate prostitution by allowing an individual to post an escort ad.
.
That's my take on this. Keep the individuals (Providers, clients) and companies (TER, bee pea, Er*s, etc.) separate in your analyses and critiques. Harming the business of consenting adult Providers is the "collateral damage" of these laws.
Posted By: J2526
Re: The problem is ...
I'm not seeing anything in the new bills that would make reading provider advertising/review websites illegal.
I guess they could do that, as you point out they have done with certain types of pornography, but I don't see where they're doing that.