The debate followed a new report that concluded that prostitution procurement websites were "the most significant enabler of sex trafficking in the U.K."
"Websites such as VivaStreet.co.uk and AdultWork.com are key to the typical 'business model' used by the organized crime groups and third-party exploiters who dominate the U.K.'s off-street sex trade," the report concluded.
Champion, in her address at Westminster Hall, said: “Across the U.K., men are paying to sexually exploit vulnerable women and girls that they have 'shopped' for online. We need to join the dots — between prostitution, modern slavery, trafficking and child sexual exploitation.
“The government should urgently extend the existing prohibition against paying for sex in a public place to make it a criminal offense in all locations,” Champion said during the debate.
The U.K.’s interest in putting a clamp on websites that support sex workers shouldn’t be surprising; the country has been trying to figure out how to implement a nationwide system designed to prevent minors from accessing adult content for months.
President Trump signed FOSTA in April. Currently, the U.S. law is being challenged in federal court by the Woodhull Freedom Foundation and others. They are initially seeking a preliminary injunction against enactment of the statute.
Industry attorney Myles Jackman told XBIZ that in the wake of FOSTA, the introduction of similar legislation in the U.K. is "gaining favor in certain quarters of the political establishment."
"Imposing restrictions on sex workers' ability to advertise their services on the internet would be an unprecedented interference with sex workers’ free speech and work place rights," Jackman said.
"I would encourage sex workers in the U.K. to refuse to allow such an ill-conceived, moralistic and freedom-impinging legislation from becoming law in the first place through lobbying the political establishment, activism and ensuring sex workers’ voices are not erased from the public discussion."
