2H 2020 Quick Links, Part 4 (FOSTA)

* “Department of Justice shut down CityXGuide.com and arrested the site’s owner, for the first time utilizing the criminal expansions created under FOSTA/SESTA.” Notice of proceedings. Indictment.

* Emily Morgan, On FOSTA and the Failures of Punitive Speech Restrictions, 115 Northwestern University Law Review 503 (2020):

FOSTA fails to achieve its primary goals because it enacts content-restrictive provisions, the burden of which falls largely on already vulnerable groups. In this case, those vulnerable groups include sex trafficking survivors and consensual sex workers—a group consisting mostly of women, low-income individuals, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community

* Nick Cowen and Rachela Colosi, Sex work and online platforms: what should regulation do?, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy (October 23, 2020):

attempts to regulate online platforms to exclude the facilitation of sex work appear to have had negative consequences at least according to research conducted within the sex work community. A survey of sex workers in Rhode Island revealed that the loss of online opportunities for advertising had to led to the re-adoption of more dangerous working practices. A survey of street-based sex workers based in Massachusetts reported increases in income instability and a reduction in personal agency as a result of the passing of FOSTA-SESTA. In addition to loss of advertising, sex workers fear that the platforms they used for reporting violent clients come under the broad prohibition that FOSTA-SESTA uses. Sex workers in New York have reported being more likely to be targeted by police for ‘loitering’ because of their greater reliance on street advertisement following the reduction of online advertising opportunity.

A broader survey found that a majority of sex workers had recently been subject to threats of violence, exploitation or coercive attempts to obtain free services, some from people attempting to establish themselves as pimps, which some respondents associated directly with the passing of FOSTA-SESTA. This aligns with personal accounts of 13 sex workers being compelled to return to using pimps that they had previously found to be unnecessary for conducting their business when it became internet-based. This is suggestive that FOSTA-SESTA has undermined some of the crowding-out of coercive practices in the sector that platform had facilitated. For some sex workers, the next best option to relying on platforms is not exiting the sex industry, but continuing in the sector while engaging in risky practices that attract the attention of coercive actors. These are ‘inelastic’ sex workers who have relatively unattractive outside options. Although direct evidence is not yet available, presumably some ‘elastic’ sex workers were encouraged to exit the sector for less lucrative, but safer, alternatives.

* Huffington Post: ‘It’s Out Of Control’: How QAnon Undermines Legitimate Anti-Trafficking Efforts

* “Child Sex Trafficking Prosecutions Fall During Trump Administration.” Is this because FOSTA reduced child sex trafficking? More likely, it’s because law enforcement has invested less in child sex trafficking enforcement post-FOSTA for well-documented reasons.

* Kendra Albert et al, FOSTA in Legal Context (2020). An indispensable guide to navigating the law. It does all of the tedious statutory analysis that you don’t want to do.

More SESTA/FOSTA-Related Posts:

* Justice Thomas’ Anti-Section 230 Statement Doesn’t Support Reconsideration–JB v. Craigslist
Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Against Craigslist Moves Forward–ML v. Craigslist
Section 230 Preempts Another FOSTA Claim–Doe v. Kik
Section 230 Protects Craigslist from Sex Trafficking Claims, Despite FOSTA–JB v. Craigslist
Facebook Still Can’t Dismiss Sex Trafficking Victims’ Lawsuit in Texas State Court
Craigslist Denied Section 230 Immunity for Classified Ads from 2008–ML v. Craigslist
2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 3 (FOSTA/Backpage)
New Paper Explains How FOSTA Devastated Male Sex Workers
FOSTA Constitutional Challenge Revived–Woodhull Freedom Foundation v. US
New Civil FOSTA Lawsuits Push Expansive Legal Theories Against Unexpected Defendants (Guest Blog Post)
Section 230 Helps Salesforce Defeat Sex Trafficking Lawsuit–Doe v. Salesforce
Latest Linkwrap on FOSTA’s Aftermath
Section 230 Doesn’t End Lawsuit Claiming Facebook Facilitated Sex Trafficking–Doe v. Facebook
New Essay: The Complicated Story of FOSTA and Section 230
Who Benefited from FOSTA? (Spoiler: Probably No One)
FOSTA’s Political Curse
FOSTA Doesn’t Help Pro Se Litigant’s Defamation Claim Against Facebook
Constitutional Challenge to FOSTA Dismissed for Lack of Standing (Guest Blog Post)
An Update on the Constitutional Court Challenge to FOSTA–Woodhull Freedom v. US (Guest Blog Post)
Indianapolis Police Have Been “Blinded Lately Because They Shut Backpage Down”
Constitutional Challenge Against FOSTA Filed–Woodhull v. US (Guest Blog Post)
Catching Up on FOSTA Since Its Enactment (A Linkwrap)
More Aftermath from the ‘Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA’
‘Worst of Both Worlds’ FOSTA Signed Into Law, Completing Section 230’s Evisceration
Backpage Loses Another Section 230 Motion (Again Without SESTA/FOSTA)–Florida Abolitionists v. Backpage
District Court Ruling Highlights Congress’ Hastiness To Pass ‘Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA’– Doe 1 v. Backpage
More on the Unconstitutional Retroactivity of ‘Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA’ (Guest Blog Post)
Senate Passes ‘Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA’ (Linkwrap)
Why FOSTA’s Restriction on Prostitution Promotion Violates the First Amendment (Guest Blog Post)
SESTA’s Sponsors Still Don’t Understand Section 230 (As They Are About to Eviscerate It)
Can the ‘Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA’ Be Salvaged? Perhaps…and You Can Help (URGENT CALL TO ACTION)
Congress Probably Will Ruin Section 230 This Week (SESTA/FOSTA Updates)
What’s New With SESTA/FOSTA (January 17, 2018 edition)
New House Bill (Substitute FOSTA) Has More Promising Approach to Regulating Online Sex Trafficking
* My testimony at the House Energy & Commerce Committee: Balancing Section 230 and Anti-Sex Trafficking Initiatives
How SESTA Undermines Section 230’s Good Samaritan Provisions
Manager’s Amendment for SESTA Slightly Improves a Still-Terrible Bill
Another Human Trafficking Expert Raises Concerns About SESTA (Guest Blog Post)
Another SESTA Linkwrap (Week of October 30)
Recent SESTA Developments (A Linkwrap)
Section 230’s Applicability to ‘Inconsistent’ State Laws (Guest Blog Post)
An Overview of Congress’ Pending Legislation on Sex Trafficking (Guest Blog Post)
The DOJ’s Busts of MyRedbook & Rentboy Show How Backpage Might Be Prosecuted (Guest Blog Post)
Problems With SESTA’s Retroactivity Provision (Guest Blog Post)
My Senate Testimony on SESTA + SESTA Hearing Linkwrap
Debunking Some Myths About Section 230 and Sex Trafficking (Guest Blog Post)
Congress Is About To Ruin Its Online Free Speech Masterpiece (Cross-Post)
Backpage Executives Must Face Money Laundering Charges Despite Section 230–People v. Ferrer
How Section 230 Helps Sex Trafficking Victims (and SESTA Would Hurt Them) (guest blog post)
Sen. Portman Says SESTA Doesn’t Affect the Good Samaritan Defense. He’s Wrong
Senate’s “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017”–and Section 230’s Imminent Evisceration
The “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017” Bill Would Be Bad News for Section 230
WARNING: Draft “No Immunity for Sex Traffickers Online Act” Bill Poses Major Threat to Section 230
The Implications of Excluding State Crimes from 47 U.S.C. § 230’s Immunity