At EARN IT Act hearing, Sen. Blumenthal says the “bill says nothing about encryption”, while industry groups allege it may force them to drop E2E encryption
The encryption fight in Congress is running on a familiar script. In 2016, security experts called the Burr-Feinstein draft encryption bill flawed and dangerous, tech coalitions sent an open letter opposing it, and its sponsors still advanced it — a fight over a bill that would have constrained encryption directly.
EARN IT takes an indirect route: per the CNET explainer, it makes firms earn their Section 230 protections by meeting government-set standards ostensibly aimed at child exploitation. Industry groups read that structure as a lever that could force them off end-to-end encryption; Blumenthal's hearing testimony insists the bill 'says nothing about encryption.' The eventual resolution is already on record — two years later he conceded the bill won't offer a blanket exemption for using encryption as evidence.
First-order effects
Platforms offering E2E messaging now face a stated trade-off between keeping encryption and keeping Section 230 protections, since compliance standards set under EARN IT are what industry groups allege would push them to drop E2E.
Blumenthal's denial frames the immediate legislative battle around the bill's text, putting the burden on opponents to show how the standards-setting mechanism reaches encryption.
Second-order effects
Expect a repeat of the 2016 playbook: coordinated industry letters and security-expert opposition aimed at reshaping the bill's language before it advances, as happened against Burr-Feinstein.
Standards bodies created under the bill become the real battleground — whoever controls the 'best practices' definition effectively decides whether encrypted services can remain compliant.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, US lawmakers pursue encryption policy through intermediary-liability mechanisms rather than direct mandates, forcing platforms to price legal risk into product design — and leaving the question of whether such bills target encryption contested for years, as the two-year gap between denial and concession shows.
The trend: Congress is shifting from outright anti-encryption bills toward conditioning platform legal protections on compliance standards, making liability law the new pressure point on end-to-end encryption.
The government is attempting to exploit anger at tech companies to pass a law that intentionally undermines digital security (https://t.co/...), and censors speech. That such a law is even being considered by Congress is a national disgrace.
BECAUSE this bill also changes some other liability stuff, it incentivizes more moderating, more restriction of user content. Larger platforms like Facebook would have to divert resources from other goals, such as fighting abusive speech or even terrorism, to EARN IT compliance
Like FOSTA-SESTA, this proposed bill chips away at the protections offered by CDA230 under the guise of stopping human trafficking. https://twitter.com/...
I believe Facebook: strong encryption & stopping abuse can coexist. Big Tech should stop with the distractions. Their absolute immunity is not an absolute right. It should be earned & certainly should not continue if these companies fail to protect children. https://twitter.com/.…
Thank you, Nicole, for your courage to come forward & share your story. No place on the internet should harbor this kind of truly repugnant material. The EARN IT Act will ensure tech companies' inaction on child sexual abuse material does not go unchecked. https://twitter.com/...
This bill would put Internet platforms right where Attorney General Barr wants them, ready to compromise their users' security and privacy in order to avoid serious repercussions. https://www.eff.org/...
Match Chief Legal Officer says bill is right balance. “how will all of us in the ecosystem keep users safe” while protecting their privacy. “consequences of doing nothing is unacceptable”
Mother of an abused child now testifying and wow, this is horrifying and brave of her to come out in public. This is the kind of testimony that moves members. Remember, SESTA and FOSTA passed with huge bipartisan support because of a very thorough investigations and hearings
Talk about Commission run by DOJ on child exploitation. @SenBlumenthal stresses AG Barr has only 1 vote on commission. He appears to try to create some distance between the bill and the AG's efforts.