First, federal authorities seized the classified advertising website Backpage.com last week. Then, a 93-count indictment was unsealed, charging several of its top officials with facilitating prostitution and revealing details about victims including minors as young as 14.

Now, President Trump signed new anti-sex-trafficking legislation into law Wednesday. The law, which passed Congress with near unanimous bipartisan support, will give prosecutors stronger tools to go after similar sites and suspend liability protections for Internet companies for the content on their sites.

The federal investigation into Backpage was long in the works before the legislation passed Congress last month. Craigslist removed its personal ads section shortly after the final vote. The new law will also let state law enforcement officials pursue sites that knowingly host sex-trafficking content, and will allow victims to sue such sites for damages.

new york times