LOS ANGELES — Free Speech Coalition issued a statement today explaining in detail why it opposes the controversial EARN IT Act, and also an explainer clarifying the implications of the widely condemned legislation.
According to the adult industry trade group’s statement, the EARN IT Act, reintroduced into the Senate on Jan. 31 by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), “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,” the statement notes. “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, FSC warns, expected consequences would include:
- 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, and lower payouts for creators
The FSC emphasized that it fully supports “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 anti-porn and anti-sex work groups as a backdoor method of censorship.”
The explainer also issued today, “The FSC Guide to the EARN IT Act,” elaborates on those bullet points and can be perused here.
Visit FreesSpeechCoalition.com and follow the organization on Twitter.
For more of XBIZ's coverage of the EARN IT Act, click here.