A Twitter Thread on the EARN IT Act

February 9, 2022 · by · in Content Regulation, Derivative Liability

I did a (rare for me) Twitter thread on this topic, which is so crucial that I’m sharing it here as well:

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be marking up the EARN IT Act, which removes Section 230 for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Like FOSTA (but much worse), this bill won’t solve any problems & will create many more. 

What’s the best way to protect CSAM victims? The bill would create a commission to answer this extremely complicated issue, but it repeals Section 230 without waiting to hear if the commission thinks that’s a good idea.

Services already filter CSAM automatically (PhotoDNA) & report CSAM to law enforcement. EARN IT assumes they can do more, but removing 230 leaves services facing unmanageable legal risks. In response, many services will eliminate user-generated content (UGC) entirely.

This makes EARN IT an existential threat to UGC–without any reason to believe that it helps CSAM victims. EARN IT is a SOPA-level development for the Internet.

DO NOT ASSUME YOUR SENATORS KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT EARN IT. TELL THEM VIA CALLS/TWEETS. Other actions you can take (but calling your elected officials is always the most impactful): noearnitact.org and act.eff.org/action/stop-th.

If the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to protect CSAM victims, the first step should be ensuring that law enforcement investigates every cybertip…which is not currently being done. (Also, cybertips will evaporate when EARN IT eliminates UGC, which will make it harder to find and prosecute the criminals).

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