Sen. Harris quiet as civil rights group throws support behind anti-sex-trafficking bill
The R Street Institute, a free market think-tank that has received funds from Google, late last week released a statement praising Harris for seeking a “middle-ground.”
“It’s unclear what exact middle ground Harris is seeking, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with her listening to Bay Area tech firms on an issue that intimately involves them–and us,” the group said. “Sure, Harris seems to have changed her position from her days as attorney general, when she filed pimping charges against [Backpage’s] operator.”
“A judge later tossed those charges for many of the same reasons free-speech advocates oppose this bill,” the statement said.
“We should all be happy that Sen. Harris is growing in office,” the statement continued. “By all means, let’s clamp down on the filth who operate as sex traffickers—but without threatening the kind of online free speech we’ve all come to expect from the internet.”
