CONGRESS: SAY NO TO BAD INTERNET BILLS
Congress wants to hand Trump even more power for censorship and surveillance by passing dangerous internet bills that attack Section 230 and require online ID checks. Tell Congress they can’t pretend to stand up to Big Tech while taking our rights away!
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The Bills
Take a few minutes to take part in our individual, dedicated actions against KOSA, EARN IT, STOP CSAM, and many more. The more actions you take, the more noise you make about these bad bills.
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Want to add your voice to the wave of opposition to these bills? Send us any content you make and we’ll showcase it on our site or socials. Email us [email protected] or tag us @fightfortheftr. And check out what other folks are posting.
EARN IT
The EARN IT Act of 2023 threatens to undermine online encryption by punishing companies that provide encryption services. And by repeating the same mistakes as a previous bill called SESTA/FOSTA, it would lead to widespread Internet censorship and crackdowns on marginalized communities. When EARN IT was previously introduced in 2020 and 2022, it was shelved in the face of overwhelming public outcry and opposition from human rights groups. Now, lawmakers are introducing EARN IT for a third time, hoping to pass it and break the internet while we’re distracted.
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KOSA
KOSA claims to make kids safer, but it’s really a dangerous censorship bill that would give the government unprecedented control over the internet. This would put youth in danger by preventing them from accessing potentially life-saving resources. Lawmakers concerned about online safety should reject KOSA and instead work to protect all internet users from abusive tech companies by passing a Federal data privacy law.
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AGE-GATING BILLS
Regressive states across the country are taking away teenagers’ online rights. It started in Utah with two laws that create a mandated social media “bedtime” and give parents complete control over their kids’ accounts, messages, and passwords. Utah lawmakers claim their curfew-and-control bills help children, but these bills actually make children less safe by increasing state and parental surveillance and restricting access to community. To make matters worse, legislation like this is spreading. Arkansas has passed a copycat bill. Louisiana and Texas are trying to follow Utah’s lead, and it’s been introduced federally in Congress.
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Cooper Davis
The Cooper Davis Act is a misguided attempt to address the public health crisis caused by fentanyl in many communities in the US. The bill does more harm than good: opening the door for increased surveillance of messaging and damaging encryption that ensures digital security online, another EARN IT Act copycat bill. More surveillance will not solve a public health crisis. End-to-end encryption is not a public safety threat. Secure, private messaging protects people’s privacy and should be protected.
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Section 230
Threats by Trump and Congress to sunset Section 230 would end online free expression as we know it. Section 230 is a legal compromise that protects platforms from lawsuits over third party content while still allowing them to engage in content moderation. Without it, platforms would be forced to choose between acting as publishers, allowed to pick and choose what they host but legally liable for whatever they publish, or anything-goes platforms unable to engage in even basic spam mitigating content moderation. Regular people would be unable to post on publisher curated websites and would have their voices drowned out by scams and hate speech on unmoderated platforms.
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Online ID Checks
Online ID check laws combine surveillance and censorship. These laws, adopted by 19 states, require residents to provide sensitive information, such as a driver’s license or a face scan, simply to access websites and apps. ID check systems are vulnerable to hacking, putting this sensitive data at risk. Unreliable and biased facial recognition technologies can deny residents of these states access to large sections of the net. Requiring a website to implement an online ID check discourages users from interacting with it, harming both users and content creators. These bills allow the government to limit access to reproductive healthcare information and online LGBTQ communities. The SCREEN Act promises to bring these requirements to the entire country.
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Supporting Organizations
Organizational Opposition to #BadInternetBills
Check out what internet users have to say about the #BadInternetBills
Listen, I'm not gonna lie - all I really want is to just to be able to talk to my friends without worrying. There's so much online BS that makes me give up more and more on life... But it's because I can be online and talk with other people where I never could've. I have opportunities to help people now, places to be, events to start and be with others. I care about my rights because the folks on the internet give me a reason to keep going.
I became aware of these attacks on digital rights through people I follow on Tumblr and TikTok. Reading about the Bills they're trying to pass right now and the implications is honestly terrifying. I get about 80% of my news about current events from Tiktok, 10% from Tumblr, and the rest from researching things in more depth that I originally saw on TikTok. Losing these sources of information would be devestating for me and all the other users who get their news there because we don't trust, for very good reason, mainstream networks.
I feel like bills like KOSA will take communities and resources away from kids who desperately need it and have grown up knowing the internet is an outlet for them. They post art and videos, they ask questions and answer them, they interact with those who have similar interests all using the internet. It's valuable and I want to protect that.
I care about defending our rights in the digital age because it gives agency to your everyday person on the worldwide web. By introducing a bill like EARN It that may potentially suffocate grown adults, we risk silencing freelance journalism, and the voices of unseen minorities and marginalized groups. It hasn’t been proven that mass web censorship or surveillance of any kind can be performed in a way that’s fair and just, and keeps the rights of web users intact. The scope is too broad, and the internet is ever-evolving even second to second. The line between well-intentioned intervention to protect the vulnerable, and intentional censorship in order to control citizens in private spaces and criminalize free speech is too thin, and is the building blocks to creating a divided digital space- those who don’t realize they’re being controlled, and those that do.
CREATOR TOOLKIT
If you are a creator or org that cares about or makes content about issues impacting the LGBTQ community and reproductive justice in particular, these bills impact you and your audience.
Further Resources
Letter:
90+ LGBTQ and human rights organizations oppose KOSA
Press Conference:
Senator Ron Wyden, Fight, ACLU, and other advocates speak out against EARN IT, KOSA, STOP CSAM, and RESTRICT
Vox:
‘How laws like EARN IT and KOSA are bad for free speech’
The Verge:
‘Congress is flooded with bills childproofing the Internet’
WaPo:
‘Officials say social media is hurting teens. Scientists say it’s complicated.’
Petition:
Tell Lizzo: Stop supporting a bill that would harm LGBTQ+ kids
NYTimes:
‘Echoes of History in New National Push to Shield Children Online’
Evan Greer:
LGBTQ Youth Are Under Attack. Why are Democrats Pushing A Bill That Hurts Them Even More?