Posts in Legal Committee
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
The OTW is Recruiting for Legal Committee Paralegals, Legal Committee Trademark Specialists, and Policy & Abuse Volunteers
Are you a paralegal interested in helping the Legal Committee carry out its legal advocacy mission? Do you have legal experience, preferably trademark-specific, especially in the EU and US? Would you like to assist AO3 users by resolving complaints? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting! We’re excited to announce the opening of applications for: Legal Committee Paralegal – closing 22 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC Legal Committee Trademark Specialist – closing 22 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC Policy & Abuse Volunteer – closing 22 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always… 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
Californians and AB3080
California has introduced a new internet bill, The Parent’s Accountability and Child Protection Act (AB3080), which would require age verification for websites that contain material that is illegal to make available to minors, including sites that publish adult content for commercial gain. This law would not affect the OTW and AO3 because of our nonprofit status. However, that doesn’t mean the bill is ok. As OTW Legal previously noted with regard to KOSA, age verification would detrimentally affect the ability to be anonymous or pseudonymous online and introduce serious risks to users’ privacy and security. Also concerning is the fact that bills such as this… Read more