On April 11, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which says websites can be held legally liable if their users post ads for prostitution, was signed into law. In the lead-up to its passage, the bill was responsible for the closure of a host of advertising and review sites used by sex workers, most prominently Craigslist Personals and Backpage, the latter of which was seized and shut down by the FBI .

The bill was intended to fight sex trafficking, but it has had a dangerous effect on the many sex workers who have consensually chosen the profession and who relied on the internet and its tools to keep themselves safe and make a living.

For many consensual sex workers, losing these free or low-cost advertising platforms means losing the ability to work indoors and the ability to screen clients two major factors that contribute to a sex workers overall safety. (People being forced or coerced into prostitution also benefit from client screening and not having to work on the streets, the bills opponents point out .)

Sex workers also rely on the safety tool of communal bad date lists websites where sex workers share information on bad or dangerous clients. Sex workers say these too are being shut down in the wake of FOSTAs passage.

Many of the dozens of sex workers I spoke with for this feature said opportunistic clients and pimps are taking advantage of the rapid changes, hoping to prey on the stressed community and on the workers they assume are desperate.

This bill will and already has been responsible for the murder, rape [and] arrest of sex workers and will further push trafficked people underground, says Arabelle Raphael, a 29-year-old sex worker in California.

As Raphael points out, it is so far mostly free and low-cost sites that are disappearing, which she says largely affects those who cant afford more expensive advertising platforms or who cant class pass that is, adopt the markers of a higher socioeconomic class enough to get work on them.

The most marginalized groups (e.g., people of color, LGBTQ people, low-income people and the disabled) are most dangerously affected by the changes to the digital landscape. But the bill conflates sex trafficking with any kind of sex work, and its ripples are affecting consensual sex workers across the industry, including those involved in legal sex work, like porn performers.

Allie, 27, was surprised to find how much her work in pornography has been affected by the bills passage. Her archives were deleted by Google Drive, and her bank abruptly pulled out of processing payments for her website.

Spooked by FOSTAs broad implications, many digital platforms are revising their terms of service or booting content of a sexual nature altogether. Microsoft revised its terms of service to ban inappropriate content like nudity and offensive language on Skype. Sex workers report having their accounts banned and shadowbanned on social media sites like Instagram and Twitter. Some website-hosting services are shuttering sex workers domains. As happened to Allie, Google Drive has begun reviewing and deleting users content directly.

For those with the privilege to do so, this has become a moment to diversify income streams, to pivot to new technologies, to learn about encryption and cryptocurrencies. For those without such resources, its a dire moment, when not only are their livelihoods at stake, but also their lives.

Below, nine sex workers explain in their own words what its like living and working post-FOSTA.

Its forcing me to go back the streets, walking up and down trying to find clients

Melissa, 32, Phoenix, escort

The bill has already affected me, and its nothing good. Because of this bill Ive now been forced back to the one place I barely made it out of alive the first time, what [do] you think the chances are that I make it out alive again? Its forcing me to go back the streets, walking up and down trying to find clients. Now I not only have to deal with the police, but now Im forced to deal with tricks that know this bill is in effect, and trust me, they are taking full advantage of it by being more aggressive. And unlike being in the safety of my room, Im in their car, I dont have the option to leave or kick them out. Im literally stuck in their car until they are finished with whatever it is they want from me.

They want us out of sight, underground, dead or in the streets easy to arrest

Kendall, 21, Los Angeles, escort

I think most sex workers would agree with what my friend and fellow sex worker Jessa Jones said about the current state of our industry: We feel stifled, we feel scared, and we feel invisible. And of course its been emotionally and mentally draining.

We have run out of practically ALL safe avenues of advertising and screening. We have to rely on poor screening, due to this. We are also having our blacklists shut down websites where the sex worker community would post and warn other providers about dangerous clients, from robbery, assault, rape and even murder! We mainly rely on our close-knit community and one another for our safety and well-being. Ripping that away from us puts everyone at risk especially the most marginalized groups, like women of color [and] trans, LBGTQ and disabled providers.

Providers with more privilege like myself can, fortunately, afford to make all the changes to encrypt everything and to advertise on the existing platforms. But for MANY, especially minorities people of color, LGBTQ and disabled they are facing homelessness, they are going without food, they have to lower their rates, they are having to take unsafe risks when meeting clients, considering our screening process is in shambles now! I have seen providers lower their rates or offer extreme discounts. Many providers are getting texts from pimps promising them clients. There have been reports now of fellow sex workers missing. Many have gone completely under the radar, or even changed their identities. Many are very depressed, even suicidal.

You have to consider, for many this is our livelihood and it is being ripped away from us as if we are not even human beings and not worthy of equal protection. They want us out of sight, underground, dead or in the streets easy to arrest. That is precisely what this bill will produce.

Overall, as mentioned, we are scared. We wake up every day not knowing what is going to happen next is my website still up? Are sex worker resource sites still working? Have they deleted any of my social media platforms? Where do I go, how do I continue working? What if this date is dangerous? Am I somehow going to get in trouble? Will I be able to provide, not only for myself but for my family, this week? This month?

This bill is killing us. We cant screen clients like we used to, which is what was keeping us safe

Lexi, 27, Florida, escort

FOSTA-SESTA has affected me to where Im wondering if Im ever going to get calls again. There are other places to advertise, but theyre either too expensive or they require approval. Im now scrambling to make myself a new website and get new photos taken since all of my content was wiped offline. Its not only time-consuming but hugely expensive. I have a toddler and Im always worried now how Im going to provide for him. Backpage gave me a lot of extra income to do that and spend as much time as I wanted with my son.

It has definitely made me more depressed. And my anxiety has gone up more than it ever has been. Im always worried about bills and how Im going to pay them.

The effects this bill has had on my community are horrendous mothers not able to feed their kids, the lights getting shut off in lots of sex workers homes, a lot of people not knowing how theyre going to pay their rent or getting eviction notices because they cant. Women now having to walk the streets just to get clients and being put in dangerous circumstances that they never had to deal with before. This bill is killing us. We cant screen clients like we used to, which is what was keeping us safe.

Were trying to figure out how many of us are literally dying because of this law thats supposedly trying to keep us safe

Colette, 36, San Francisco and L.A., dominatrix