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Coalition Asks Congress to Enforce Liability Protection for Publishers

A coalition of pro-free speech organizations, trade groups and law professors asked Congress to prohibit proposed federal laws that could undermine liability protections for publishers, the Center for Democracy & Technology said in a news release Thursday. “With the passage…

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of the Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation (SAVE) Act [HR-285] in the House and counterpart bills anticipated in the Senate, lawmakers are considering major changes to the legal protections that support free expression online, with laws that would hold Internet intermediaries liable for third-party content hosted on their sites,” the release said. "When faced with potential federal criminal liability for their users' content, online platforms will censor as a self-defense mechanism," Emma Llanso, CDT Free Expression Project director, said. "Wholly innocent operators of smaller sites and publications could be driven out of business if they are hauled into court to defend themselves on federal criminal charges.” The Computer and Communications Industry Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, NetChoice, TechFreedom and Derek Bambauer, University of Arizona law professor, were among the coalition’s signatories.