As many folks here now recognize, the story about Backpage was grossly misleading. While the narrative pushed by politicians and the media was that the company was engaged in sex trafficking, the DOJ had actually commended the company for being a strong partner in the fight against sex trafficking. Indeed, the eventual takedown of Backpage days before FOSTA went into effect (which we were told was necessary to shut down Backpage) has been shown to make life more difficult for law enforcement trying to stop sex trafficking.
But I thought politicians told us the truth? /s
Truth. But, the big problem is setting whacko precedents. Maybe a better contemporary example would be the fed going after Apple because Luigi had an iPhone. All of a sudden, software providers start monitoring their programs’ users for signs they might be subject to a lawsuit.