Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) have reintroduced the SAFE SEX Workers Study Act. It aims to study the effects of FOSTA, a 2018 law that targeted online content promoting sex work.
FOSTA—formally known as the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act—weakened Section 230 of federal communications law (the "internet's First Amendment") and criminalized the hosting of online ads that facilitate prostitution. Since FOSTA's passage more than six years ago, entities from sex worker rights groups to academic researchers to the Government Accountability Office have called into question its efficacy. Meanwhile, sex workers and civil liberties groups—including the Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Human Rights Watch—charge FOSTA with promoting censorship and chilling free speech online.
