"Last year I warned that forcing websites to take down any mention of sex work would remove agency from sex workers and put them at great risk of violence and abuse, all while making it harder to catch sex traffickers and aid victims of human trafficking," Wyden said Tuesday. "So far, initial reports from cities across the country show that violence against sex workers is rising dramatically and there's little evidence that this law is helping victims."

Khanna noted that "despite these reports, no national study has been conducted to assess the impacts of SESTA/FOSTA on sex workers."

Survivors Against SESTA, a coalition of former and current sex workers, has been documenting the tech sector's response to the controversial bill since it passed the Senate two weeks ago. So far, the coalition has logged at least 18 platforms, including Craigslist and Reddit, that have either shut down, closed verticals or forums, or changed their policies on transactions, content, and language in that time.

The significant change in or outright loss of these sites causes real harm to sex workers, especially those living at the margins, such as transgender women and women of color, says Survivors Against SESTA member Kate D'Adamo, a national policy advocate and community organizer at the Sex Workers Project. Sex workers who advertised their services on Craigslist Personals, My Scarlet Book, Pounced, and similar online classifieds could screen their potential clients and determine whether or not it's safe to schedule a session. Through these type of online service sites, people who trade sex can get identifying details from their clients—names, email addresses, phone numbers, and usernames, for example—and do a bit of digging online to find out more about their history interacting with sex workers.

And that's where platforms like Reddit, Hung Angels, and VerifyHim, a screening site for online daters, came in. Those online spaces gave sex workers a way to share more information about those potential clients, as well as exchange safety tips, tech advice, and support, she says.

Some critics of SESTA/FOSTA responded to the new effort by thanking the sponsors while also pointing out that lawmakers were warned of the consequences for sex workers, but some voted in support of the 2018 legislation anyway