On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee marked up and passed the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) over the objections of a broad set of public interest, tech, and civil rights groups. 

In a letter earlier this month, the coalition raised concerns about the JCPA’s anti-content moderation provisions, antitrust exemptions, and the fact that the bill would primarily benefit large and rightwing media organizations. Those concerns were echoed in a press conference with Chamber of Progress, Public Knowledge, and Library Futures prior to the JCPA’s last, failed markup.

“There’s a reason that Senator Cruz is back on board with the JCPA: this bill is a gift to extreme right wing media,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “Not only would it prevent online platforms from taking down misinformation and disinformation posted by media outlets, but it would force those platforms to pay for the harmful links posted on their platform. This is just fuel for the misinformation fire.”

Chamber of Progress has collected petitions opposing the JCPA, gathering thousands of signatures against the legislation at StopJCPA.com. 

At today’s hearing, Sen. Alex Padilla raised concerns that “the bill’s prohibitions on the ability of platforms to take viewpoints into consideration and its overbroad retaliation provision, coupled with compelled arbitration and the ambiguous definition of access, invite a world where platforms will have to pay for content and subsidize outlets they fundamentally disagree with.”

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future. We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly. 

Our corporate partners do not have a vote on or veto over our positions. We do not speak for individual partner companies and remain true to our stated principles even when our partners disagree.