John,

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act¹ is an overreaching, misguided bill that’s on the fast track to passage. If signed into law, JCPA will punish small media outlets and radically undermine our right to fair use—including our right to post links at all.

This is a key moment for our freedom to share over the Internet—and Big Media lobbyists don't want you to dig into the messy details. Help us stop this wolf in sheep's clothing from strengthening news monopolies and breaking down our rights online.

SIGN OUR PETITION AND CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES

Why is the JCPA facing so little opposition? Well, because the bill is masquerading as Big Tech reform, and Big Tech is an easy bipartisan mark. JCPA's authors want to allow news outlets to band together to negotiate prices for sharing news articles. But, as our friends at Public Knowledge point out, this amounts to a cartel. Because scale is power, what the JCPA would really do is let big outlets like CNN and Fox News team up to knock smaller players out of the ring.^{2, 3}

JCPA has less visible and more sinister implications that we’re incredibly concerned about. By allowing Big Tech and Big Media to negotiate a fee-per-share, JCPA would effectively impose a link tax on platforms and consumers. It could even make linking to or retweeting a news story a copyright violation.

Everyone who uses the Internet to learn, share, and communicate should care about this. If JCPA is passed, you or I might have to pay before sharing news content online, limiting our freedom to organize and our freedom of expression—the freedoms that the web makes possible.

PROTECT OUR FREEDOMS ONLINE

We wholeheartedly agree that independent journalism is facing a crisis in this country. Hedge fund takeovers, social media echo chambers, and rural news deserts all threaten our ability to hear from dissenting voices across the political spectrum. But JCPA is the wrong answer, and it will do more harm than good.

You can read more about this bill and take action HERE. Help us get this message to Congress: We need sensible journalism protections, not less ability to access and share the news.

For a free & open Internet,

Lia at Fight for the Future

Footnotes:

1. Bill text: S.673 and H.R.1735

2. Public Knowledge: https://publicknowledge.org/policy/public-interest-letter-opposing-jcpa/

3. Computer & Communications Industry Association - Download Link: https://www.ccianet.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CCIA-Statement-for-the-Record-on-JCPA.pdf

Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.