Critics Warn of 'Lethal Impact on Privacy' as Senate Advances EARN IT Act

Digital rights advocates on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advance of a controversial bill that would purportedly hold tech companies accountable for sexually exploitative content, but that one prominent opponent said would "have a lethal impact on privacy, security, and free speech."

"Though nominally aimed at reducing the spread of child sexual abuse material online, it could exacerbate that problem."

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act which among other provisions, would end tech companies' immunity under Section 230 for knowingly transmitting images of child sex abuse on their platforms--during a markup hearing.

Critics--who include some progressive U.S. lawmakers as well as advocacy groups like ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, and the Sex Workers Project--have condemned the proposed legislation, which Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) described as "SESTA-FOSTA on steroids."

SESTA-FOSTA, which was meant to combat online sex trafficking, has widely been viewed as a failure, with Wyden claiming that "it increased sex trafficking. It increased violence against sex workers. It didn't even stop ads."

The Washington Post reports:

Under the EARN IT Act, tech companies would lose some long-standing protections they enjoy under a legal shield called Section 230, opening them up to more lawsuits over posts of child sexual abuse material on their platforms. The bill, which was first introduced in 2020, would also create a national commission of law enforcement, abuse survivors, and industry experts to develop best practices to address child abuse online.

The bill is "calibrated to really stop the most detestable and despicable kinds of child abuse involving really horrific pornographic images that follow these kids all their lives," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who co-sponsored the legislation with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The bill has been backed by lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum, as well as groups representing law enforcement and sexual exploitation survivors.

On Wednesday, more than 60 advocacy groups sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee arguing that the EARN IT Act would imperil encryption and free speech, while actually making it more difficult to protect children from online abuse and disproportionately affecting marginalized communities.

Parker Higgins, advocacy director at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, warned this week that, if passed, the measure "would constrain existing legal safe harbors, incentivizing platforms to overzealously restrict the kinds of content that users can post and share."

Higgins said the reintroduced version of the EARN IT Act "is in some ways worse than the draft that attracted such vehement pushback two years ago, but could be rushed through to a vote before meaningful opposition can reassemble."

"Expert analysis suggests it would be worse than useless at its stated goals," he added. "Though nominally aimed at reducing the spread of child sexual abuse material online, it could exacerbate that problem."