Why We’re Opposing the EARN IT Act

Byaction_0elch1

The EARN IT Act, reintroduced into the Senate on Jan 31, looks to be one of the most dangerous censorship bills in recent history.

Because the stated goal of the bill is the prevention of child sex abuse material (CSAM), it has broad support. Unfortunately, the bill would have wide-ranging effects on free speech — particularly devastating to content involving sex and sex workers.

If the EARN IT ACT were to pass, we would expect:

  • Widespread bans on sex-related content from mainstream social media
  • Widespread deplatforming of sex workers
  • Delisting of adult content in Google
  • Increased surveillance of private messaging and cloud storage for sexual content
  • Significant consolidation, with decreased options for creators and entrepreneurs in the fan and clip space
  • Increased moderation costs for platforms that host user-generated content (UGC), and lower payouts for creators

We are in full support of efforts to stop the distribution of CSAM. However, the EARN IT Act’s vague wording would allow the prosecution of sites that are actively working to fight CSAM. It would encourage social media sites, cloud storage and web-hosting companies to ban adult accounts altogether. And it would permit vexatious litigation from antiporn and antisex work groups as a backdoor method of censorship.

Learn more about how the EARN IT Act works here.