John,
This is just gross. An anti-LGBTQ hate group has been flooding the FCC with comments supporting the White House executive order that would open the floodgates for widespread online censorship.1
They’ve already stuffed the docket with hundreds of comments that are full of factual inaccuracies and misleading claims, calling on notorious FCC chairman Ajit Pai to go even further than he did when he repealed net neutrality and move forward with a White House order that would essentially turn the agency into the Internet speech police.
We’re launching a counter-campaign to fight these bigoted lies and stop the “Censor the Internet” executive order in its tracks. Will you chip in?
This executive order is straight out of the pages of Orwell’s 1984. It’s called an “Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship.” But it literally does the exact opposite of that.2 It would put the bureaucrats at the FCC and FTC in charge of dictating what is and isn’t allowed on social media sites and online forums. If the government doesn’t like how your site moderates content, they can shut you down just like with SOPA/PIPA.3
Worse, the order does this by blowing a giant hole in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230). This is one of the most misunderstood laws in modern history, so it’s worth reading up on, but modifying it the way this order demands could literally end the Internet as we know it—making it all but impossible for sites to host user-generated content like videos, blog posts, comments, memes, and photos.
Experts warn that gutting CDA 230 would disproportionately harm LGBTQ creators and other marginalized communities, so it’s no big surprise a hate group that has called being gay “immoral, unnatural, and self-destructive” is spamming the FCC with comments supporting this.4 We’re ready to go with a brand new campaign tool that will make it easy for real people to submit their comments directly to the FCC to counter the outright lies. But we need to raise another $10,000 this week to finish the tool, build a coalition, alert the media, and make this go viral.
Will you chip in to stop Internet censorship and oppose this anti-LGBTQ hate group’s agenda?
This is personal for me. I’m the deputy director here at Fight for the Future. I’m also a trans woman and an active member of the LGBTQ community. I’ve seen groups like this, often funded with dark money, attack my community’s basic right to be ourselves and express ourselves again and again. I’m not surprised they're doing this. But I’m angry. And I’m ready to fight.
And this fight is more important now than ever before, because dangerous proposals like this CDA 230 executive order are gaining popularity with both Democrats and Republicans. We need to build a movement to defend online free expression that brings together everyone, regardless of your politics, where you're from, or your religious beliefs.
Will you stand with me against Internet censorship and in defense of basic human rights for all?
Click here to donate today.
Thanks for all you do,
-Evan at Fight for the Future
P.S. You can see the tool we’re building, which is still in beta but should work for submitting comments to the FCC, at https://www.saveonlinefreespeech.org
Footnotes:
1. Daily Dot: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/fcc-section-230-public-comments-liberty-counsel/
2. Reason: https://reason.com/2020/05/28/trumps-executive-order-on-twitter-is-a-total-mess/
3. Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-trumps-executive-order-is-the-most-futile-attack-on-230-yet/
4. Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/liberty-counsel
Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.
