Definition
The Bad Internet Bills Campaign is the umbrella opposition coalition organized by Fight for the Future (badinternetbills.com) against the contemporary US federal slate of “child safety” and “platform accountability” legislation. Targets include Section 230 sunset proposals, KOSA, EARN IT Act, TAKE IT DOWN, COOPER DAVIS, STOP CSAM, the SCREEN Act, and various age-gating bills. The campaign aligns digital rights organizations with grassroots constituencies — fan-fiction communities (Archive of Our Own readers), Tumblr/TikTok creators, LGBTQ+ youth, and queer civil society organizations — into a unified opposition front. Launched 2023; 472,000+ recorded actions as of April 2026.
Why It Matters for the Newsletter
This is the organizing infrastructure that names and frames the entire contemporary internet-censorship cluster. Without the campaign, the bills would be analyzed as discrete policy debates; with it, they’re visible as a coordinated political project (per Why Are Some Democrats Backing MAGA’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Censorship?’s three-vector argument). Notable as a case study in how digital rights organizing has shifted — Signal-broadcast urgent action groups, fandom-community alliances, and cross-platform meme distribution rather than think-tank reports.
Evidence & Examples
- Hub site: Bad Internet Bills — Fight for the Future Campaign Hub — campaign infrastructure, bill catalog, testimonials, supporting organizations.
- Coalition examples:
- 90+ LGBTQ and human rights organizations opposed KOSA (Nov 2022 letter) — cited in LGBTQ Youth Are Under Attack — Why Are Democrats Pushing a Bill That Hurts Them More.
- GLAAD position shift (June 2025) — large LGBTQ+ orgs joining coalition as Trump FTC weaponization becomes visible (cited in Why Are Some Democrats Backing MAGA’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Censorship?).
- Tesla Takedown organizers’ April 2025 letter to Durbin on Section 230 sunset.
- Grassroots mobilization: Hundreds of thousands of constituent calls and emails driven by fan communities; AO3 community as central node (This Bill Threatens Access to LGBTQ+ Online Communities — Philips, This Bill Purports to Protect Kids From Big Tech — Bonesteel).
- Wins: Multiple rounds of KOSA amendments (2023-2025); some LGBTQ+ groups withdrawing opposition after grooming-language removal (mixed — opposition fragmented but sustained).
Tensions & Counterarguments
- Coalition pressure points: Some LGBTQ+ orgs (per Bonesteel/Greer-Rose) have “sat on the sidelines” through KOSA fights; the coalition’s strength has been uneven across mainstream civil liberties orgs.
- Effectiveness: The bills keep coming back. Multiple KOSA reintroductions, fresh state-level age verification laws every session. The coalition has slowed but not stopped the cluster.
- Tactical tensions: Some Democratic-aligned organizations resist explicitly naming Democrats as the problem (per Why Are Some Democrats Backing MAGA’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Censorship? critique of “self-styled LGBTQ+ ally” Blumenthal).
Related Concepts
Key Sources
- Bad Internet Bills — Fight for the Future Campaign Hub — campaign hub
- Why Are Some Democrats Backing MAGA’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Censorship? — three-vector framing
- LGBTQ Youth Are Under Attack — Why Are Democrats Pushing a Bill That Hurts Them More — original Greer/FtF argument
- This Bill Purports to Protect Kids From Big Tech — Bonesteel — coalition update
- This Bill Threatens Access to LGBTQ+ Online Communities — Philips — fandom coalition node