NetChoice

“This is an assault on free speech and the open internet by the State of New York,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel. “New York has created a way for the government to track what sites people visit and their online activity by forcing websites to censor all content unless visitors provide an ID to verify their age.” NetChoice Condemns New York's New Unconstitutional Internet Censorship Law:

On Friday, NetChoice launched a new lawsuit against Mississippi's HB 1126. By forcing websites to identify users, every digital service in Mississippi would need to collect more data & information from users, including children, if HB 1126 goes into effect. "While violating the First Amendment, this also jeopardizes the security of all Mississippians, especially minors, by requiring them to surrender sensitive, personal information and creates a new target for hackers and other criminals to exploit,” said Chris Marchese, NetChoice Litigation Center Director, in a statement. Learn more about NetChoice's newest lawsuit, NetChoice v. Fitch, here:

NetChoice is suing the state of Georgia today to halt Act 564, a law passed that penalizes marketplaces, disregards federal law and imposes burdens on lawful business and speech while completely failing to address the problem at hand—organized retail crime. It neither provides law enforcement nor marketplaces with resources to detect or prevent retail crime, nor does it give them the necessary resources to put retail thieves in jail. If this law goes into effect, Act 564 will hurt online marketplaces, disproportionately impacting Georgia businesses and putting them at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the nation, while failing to curb the real problem at hand: organized retail crime. Read more about our new lawsuit, NetChoice v. Carr: https://buff.ly/4c06l74

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case, NRA v. Vullo. The ruling is a validation of NetChoice's ongoing efforts to protect free speech and prevent government overreach, writes Chris Marchese. "The fight continues, but today, the First Amendment notched an important win."

Generative AI tools can empower entrepreneurs and small businesses to focus on what they do best—all at an affordable cost. Read more on NetChoice's blog about how Generative AI can help small and medium-sized businesses succeed:

NetChoice sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee alongside Chamber of Progress, SIIA and OfferUp, expressing our opposition to their proposal to "sunset" (repeal) Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. "Americans lose two-fold if a Section 230 'sunset' is passed: (1) there will be less competition in the tech sector, and (2) their ability to speak freely online will be significantly curbed." Read our letter to the Committee here: https://buff.ly/3UQB3bW

New in The Wall Street Journal from former Rep. Chris Cox and Sen. Ron Wyden, the original authors of Section 230: "Reverting to this pre-Section 230 status quo would dramatically alter, and imperil, the online world." This is a must-read ahead of tomorrow's hearing in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on a proposal to "sunset" (repeal) the law: https://buff.ly/3WQ0Xik

Today, NetChoice and more than a dozen free market organizations are on Capitol Hill to educate lawmakers on why consumers must be put back into the focus of antitrust policy. At the core of our educational efforts is the Biden administration’s abandonment of the consumer welfare standard, which properly focuses antitrust enforcement on when a business is causing demonstrable consumer harm. Biden’s regulators embraced an alternative, expansive, and subjective interpretation of antitrust to punish successful businesses across various industries and discourage innovation, even when consumers are benefiting from such services. In a press release, Carl Szabo writes, “The American people deserve an antitrust agenda that vigorously safeguards free markets and innovation, not an ideological campaign to undermine U.S. competitiveness, both at home and abroad.” Thank you to the free market organizations that have joined us for this educational effort.

DHS recently launched an additional partnership for industry and government to work together to protect children online—Know2Protect. Some of its key partners include Google, Meta and Snap, Inc. These are easy to use educational tools that will help individuals, families, organizations and communities better understand how to stay safe and secure online.

It’s time for the Biden administration to reassert American leadership on digital trade. Anything less will have lasting consequences for U.S. competitiveness in global markets. Read the latest on the USTR’s recent policymaking from Robert Winterton on NetChoice’s blog: