The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) is constitutional, upholding key portions of the law that critics have said intrudes on First Amendment speech protections and harms sex workers.

“Today in necropolitical news, FOSTA is upheld. Our government, courts, and all its agencies don’t read or care about reliable science or listen to stakeholders directly harmed by their toxic policies,” Angela Jones, a sociologist and sex worker scholar, said on Twitter in response to the ruling.

FOSTA suspends Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, a law that grants online platforms protection from liability for user-generated speech. After FOSTA passed, social media platforms were forced to censor sex-worker generated content in fear of being held criminally liable under the law.

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Since becoming law five years ago, FOSTA has been condemned for making sex work more dangerous and increasing online censorship. While lawmakers passed the law to combat sex trafficking, critics have alleged that the law has hindered law enforcement from using websites to catch actual traffickers, and that sex trafficking reports actually tripled the year after FOSTA was enacted.

Hacking//Hustling, a collective of sex workers, sex trafficking survivors and allies who have researched the effects of FOSTA and its companion law, the Stop Enabling Sex...

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