Enlarge / CEO of Reddit Alexis Ohanian attends WORLDZ Cultural Marketing Summit 2017 at Hollywood and Highland on July 31, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for PTTOW!)

In the wake of this week’s passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) bill in both houses of Congress on Wednesday, Craigslist has removed its “Personals” section entirely, and Reddit has removed some related subreddits, likely out of fear of future lawsuits.

FOSTA, which awaits the signature of President Donald Trump before becoming law, removes some portions of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The landmark 1996 law shields website operators that host third-party content (such as commenters, for example) from civil liability. The new bill is aimed squarely at Backpage, a notorious website that continues to allow prostitution advertisements and has been under federal scrutiny for years.

In a bizarre turn of events, the Department of Justice also warned the House in February 2018 that the bill “raises a serious constitutional concern,” as it would apply retroactively—a seeming violation of the Constitution’s ex post facto clause. Congress passed it anyway.