Washington, D.C. – Following introduction of The DEFEND IP Act of 2026, Re:Create Executive Director, Brandon Butler, issued the following statement highlighting concerns about the bill.
“The DEFEND IP Act is an attack on the internet and the people who depend on it,” said Executive Director Brandon Butler. “Somehow the bill manages to be even worse than the site-blocking bill introduced last week, with the same core suite of censorship tools but even less protection for the public. Streamlining digital takedowns creates a system where lawful sites can be erased overnight, with no real remedies for the victims.”
“Forcing internet service providers to be copyright censors threatens user privacy and risks catastrophic collateral damage to the open web. We’ve seen this play out in European countries, where site-blocking routinely knocks small businesses, government agencies, universities, and even convents offline. This fast-track site-blocking scheme bypasses due process, undermines the digital ecosystem, and invites abuse– disrupting small businesses, nonprofits and internet users across the globe.”
The fallout from similar European site-blocking laws is highlighted in our recent one-pager:
- 510 Benign, non-streaming websites (including a Catholic Convent and telehealth platform) were blocked by Italy’s Piracy Shield
- 320 Days, on average, innocent websites remained blacklisted in Italy, cutting off small businesses from global markets
- 5.8% of the popular internet was blocked by Spain’s system during LaLiga matches, including Harvard University and Greenpeace
Learn more from Brandon’s Washington Examiner op-ed about site-blocking.
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About Re:Create: Re:Create is a coalition comprised of a broad membership of think tanks, advocacy organizations, libraries, technology companies – large and small – that serves as the leading coalition united in the fight for a balanced copyright system that is pro-innovation, pro-creator, and pro-consumer. Not every member of the Re:Create Coalition necessarily agrees on every issue, but the views we express represent the consensus among the bulk of our membership.