The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). In a decision released Friday, the appeals court affirmed a lower court's ruling that upheld FOSTA in full, agreeing with the government that the 2018 law is neither overbroad nor unconstitutionally vague. But in a partial win for civil liberties and sex worker rights' groups, the court also endorsed a narrow interpretation of FOSTA's prohibition on promoting or facilitating prostitution.
The law "does not proscribe facilitating prostitution more generally, which could extend to speech arguing for the legalization of prostitution or that discusses, educates, or informs about prostitution," the court said.
