Court Rules Against Woodhull in FOSTA Appeal

Court Rules Against Woodhull in FOSTA Appeal

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the district court’s judgment against the Woodhull Freedom Foundation in its four-year legal battle to have FOSTA-SESTA declared unconstitutional, and rejected the strict scrutiny challenge proposed by free speech advocates.

Woodhull, which advocates nationally for sexual freedom, was joined in the appeal by Human Rights Watch, the Internet Archive, Alex Andrews and Eric Koszyk.

As XBIZ reported, a federal appeals panel heard arguments in the case in January. Legal observers at the time deemed the judges’ line of questioning as leaning toward the possibility of at least part of FOSTA-SESTA being struck down.

Their new ruling, however, affirms that “neither Section 2421A of FOSTA nor FOSTA’s amendments to the Trafficking Act are overbroad or unconstitutionally vague,” that “FOSTA’s clarification that Section 230 withholds immunity for violations of federal sex trafficking laws comports with the First Amendment” and that the district court “correctly dismissed the challenge to Section 230(e)(5)’s retroactive application.”

Woodhull was represented by Bob Corn-Revere of Davis Wright Tremaine; Lawrence G. Walters of Walters Law Group; Aaron Mackey, Corynne McSherry and David Greene of digital rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Daphne Keller of the Stanford Cyber Law Center.

Walters told XBIZ, “While the decision is not what we hoped for, the DC Circuit Court significantly narrowed that scope of FOSTA by interpreting the law to not apply to protected speech and advocacy. We are reviewing the decision with our clients and evaluating their options in light of the ruling.”

Woodhull Releases Statement

Following the release of the decision, Woodhull released the following statement:

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) in a decision released today.

Although the Court did not issue the constitutional ruling we sought, it held that the law must be interpreted narrowly in order to avoid “grave constitutional questions.” By imposing the interpretive discipline Congress lacked, the Court ruled out many of the broader applications of FOSTA that caused us to challenge it.  

Specifically, it held that FOSTA “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.” It also clarified that the law “does not reach the intent to engage in general advocacy about prostitution or to give advice to sex workers generally to protect them from abuse. Nor would it cover the intent to preserve for historical purposes webpages that discuss prostitution.”

Woodhull added it continues to review the decision for its full implications and evaluating the options going forward.

FOSTA Appeal Decision

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Trump Administration Issues Executive Order Against 'Debanking'

The White House on Thursday issued an executive order limiting financial institutions’ ability to restrict access to financial services for people or groups involved in lawful industries, a longtime goal of adult industry advocates and stakeholders.

Go.cam Launches Free Age Verification Solution, Anti-Fraud Features

Go.cam has announced that its age verification solution is now free with updated anti-fraud and identity protection features.

Florida AG Sues EU-Based Adult Companies for Failing to Age-Verify Users

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit Monday with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against five EU-based adult companies for allegedly failing to require age verification before allowing access to adult content.

SkyPrivate Launches 'Telegram Pay-Per-Minute' Feature

SkyPrivate has launched a new pay-per-minute (PPM) private show option on Telegram.

Pineapple Support to Host 'Money and Mental Health' Online Event

Pineapple Support is hosting a free, online event to help performers balance financial wellbeing with mental health, Aug. 18-19.

Arcom Warns 5 Adult Sites Over Age Verification

French media regulator Arcom has sent enforcement notices to the operators of five adult websites that the agency says have failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

MojoHost Debuts NVIDIA Blackwell-Powered Hosting

MojoHost has announced the launch of NVIDIA Blackwell-powered hosting featuring RTX 6000 Pro MaxQ GPUs.

FSC: Identity Theft Targeting Adult Performers

The Free Speech Coalition has put out an alert warning of an individual found to be targeting adult performers for identity theft.

Assylum.com Implements New Age Verification System

Assylum.com has introduced an age verification system across its member sites.

European Commission to Assess Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX Compliance With Digital Services Act

The European Commission plans to conduct a study to determine how well adult sites Pornhub, XVideos and XNXX are addressing illegal content and other potential harms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Show More