CDT filed an amicus brief in Woodhull v. US, the case that brings a constitutional challenge to the controversial Allowing States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). FOSTA, signed into law in April 2018, made significant changes to federal criminal law and amended Section 230, the law that shields online intermediaries from liability for user-generated content. These changes jeopardize constitutionally protected speech about sex and sexuality and greatly increase the risk of censorship of lawful speech by online intermediaries. As CDT and manyothers had warned, a number of forums and websites hosting lawful speech have already shut themselves down in response to the law, fearing the increased risk of litigation that FOSTA creates.
On September 15, 2026, the Center for Democracy & Technology and Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief along with the Wikimedia Foundation in Meta Platforms v. Bonta, challenging California’s SB 976.
Not All Guardrails Are Created Equal: Comparing Content Safety and Copyright Filtering
As courts and policymakers work through questions about chatbot liability, they should be wary of analogies that flatten meaningful technical differences. Copyright filtering and safety intervention share real challenges around ambiguity and evasion, but they diverge in what each control must assess, how each manifests over the course of a conversation, and how much can be verified from the outside.
CDT Joins Letter Defending First Amendment Rights Amid Attack on Center for American Progress
The Center for Democracy & Technology joined more than 150 civil society, advocacy, and nonpartisan organizations in a joint statement led by Nonprofits Together supporting the Center for American Progress amid a recent legal action by the Trump administration. The statement emphasizes that independent organizations have a First Amendment right to publish evidence-based analysis and critique government policies, regardless of which administration is in power.
Op-Ed: France’s Constitutional Council Ruling Tests the Limits of Social Media Bans
Read our analysis the legal and policy significance of the Constitutional Council’s decision on ongoing social media age restriction and age assurance debates ahead of the most-anticipated EU-wide approach on child online safety due by December 2026.
