Dating app for prostitutes

WASHINGTON—The booming business of online dating faces new risks from a law designed to prevent sex trafficking and prostitution.

The law, which holds digital platforms responsible for encouraging such illicit behavior, is creating uncertainty about liability across social media. At least six sites known to be regularly used by prostitutes have shut down in the U.S. since the law went into effect, and some worry that could drive the pay-for-sex market to legitimate dating platforms.

The legitimate services say they already prevent prostitution through a variety of measures. But online sexual advances are hard to police, as those peddling sex often use code words or images. The cost of a sexual transaction can be telegraphed through a picture of roses, with each stem representing $100. Others say they’re looking for a “date” and keep it ambiguous—but suggestive. And certainly trafficking victims don’t identify themselves as such.

All of which means dating platforms could find themselves under scrutiny in the months ahead, or even face legal action that might mean anything from fines to imprisonment to lawsuits by underage victims.

The law is “going to hit the online dating sites hard,” said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University in California. He said the law’s wording is so vague, it could easily create liability for legitimate services if sex workers—trafficked or not—simply use their platforms.