I know lots of folks are really concerned about the NCOSE lawsuit and what it might mean for Twitter's terms of service. As someone who has studied and written on FOSTA, I do not think that the lawsuit is likely to result in a crackdown on sex worker twitter.

First of all, just the fact that someone filed a lawsuit doesn't mean that they're going to win. Twitter gets sued ALL the time for all kinds of stuff - including for their moderation practices.

Second, this lawsuit is actually around Twitter's handling of CSAM, not adult sexual materials. The trafficking discussion is mostly in order to take advantage of FOSTA's limits on 230.

Third, most of this lawsuit is, in my professional opinion, likely to get thrown out on a motion to dismiss. Counts 4-11 are state law claims and are preempted by Section 230 - FOSTA does not change that.

Count 2 is also likely to be dismissed, section 18 USC 225A does not have a civil remedy (the US government could sue Twitter for this but the individuals in this lawsuit can't).

What remains are Counts 1 and 3 - the real meat of the lawsuit. Both of them have to do with whether Twitter knew about the CSAM as alleged in the lawsuit. (Note that the complaint alleges that they were notified by John Doe on Jan 21 2020 and took it down Jan 30 2020.)

We don't have a lot of case law to turn to about whether the plaintiff's complaints to Twitter count as notice (in part because 230 would have preempted in most cases). There's also a question of whether Twitter's hosting of the materials counts as participation in the venture...

A bad finding for Twitter about the meaning of "participation in a venture" COULD expand the legal risks of platforms under FOSTA, and result in further crackdowns. But if that does happen, it's WAY down the line, we're not close to there yet.

Also, NCOSE didn't need FOSTA to bring this lawsuit, they could have sued Twitter under 2252A (which they did) for the same thing.

Anyway, long legal thread, in the weeds, etc. Here's my takeaway: Nothing about this lawsuit suggests that folks need to be deleting their photos/wiping their accounts. Twitter has good lawyers and gets sued for stuff all the time.

If you want to read it for yourself, the complaint is here. CW: discussion of child sexual exploitation, blackmailing. https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.372231/gov.uscourts.cand.372231.1.0.pdf

One minor correction: @alexflevy points out that a civil claim under 2252A probably would be preempted by 230. (I was wrong above re: bringing a 2252A claim pre-FOSTA.) Which may explain why NCOSE is using 1595, even though it's much harder to prove. https://twitter.com/alexflevy/status/1353513174125965314