Posts in Legal Advocacy
Canada’s Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act
On June 10, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act. If passed, this bill would require social media sites and AI chatbot services to implement design features and safeguards to protect young users, including a duty to make certain content inaccessible, prevent children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts, and enforce age restrictions for accessing visual pornographic content. While the OTW supports protecting children from online harms, we continue to strongly oppose age verification laws, which threaten users’ privacy and prevent open access to information. We also share concerns that blanket social media bans risk isolating… Read more
Spotlight on Recent Legislation, November 2025
We’ve heard from users concerned about many recent laws and their potential to impact AO3. We want to reassure you that while this continues to be a challenging time with a number of troubling laws under consideration around the world, AO3 is not currently affected. AO3 is run by a noncommercial, nonprofit organization, and it does not implement infinite scroll, offer recommendations to users, or use other techniques with which many regulators are concerned. While these bills should not directly impact AO3, they are a reminder to stay alert for potential legal issues affecting fans in your area. Where applicable, the OTW encourages people to… Read more
Fandom and Fair Use: Spotlight on Recent Fair Use Discussions
Copyright is the legal protection granting the owners of creative works (such as books, music, artwork, and so on) the authority to control their use, distribution, and sale. Copyright is a limited right, with key exceptions such as fair use. Fair use allows people to use copyrighted works for transformative purposes, such as commenting, reporting, and criticizing. Noncommercial uses are particularly favored as fair uses. For Fair Use Week 2025, we want to spotlight recent discussions about Fair Use and highlight its importance for transformative works, because fair use makes fanworks legal under copyright law. OTW’s Legal team is currently keeping an eye on site-blocking… Read more
Social Media Bans and AO3
Recently, the Australian Parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill as part of the Online Safety Act of 2021 amendment. Starting in late 2025, the bill will prevent teenagers under 16 from using social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X. The bill plans to apply enormous fines to tech companies that don’t take measures to prevent minors from creating social media accounts. Despite its intentions of protecting minors’ mental health, the ban has sparked debate over digital censorship and privacy – raising notable concerns related to identity verification, digital access, and freedom of expression. One frequently cited concern is that… Read more
H.R. 9495 and the OTW
As many of you are aware, H.R. 9495—also known as the “nonprofit killer”—passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last Thursday, November 21. OTW Legal has received a number of comments from understandably concerned users, and we’d like to take this opportunity to provide more information about this bill as it makes its way to the U.S. Senate. Section 4 of H.R. 9495 would give the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury unilateral power to revoke the 501(c)3 status of any nonprofit, with minimal due process, simply by claiming it is affiliated with terrorism. The bill allows the Secretary to limit the disclosure of evidence against… Read more