Rep. Lofgren Introduces Targeted Legislation to Combat Foreign Online Piracy That Preserves the Open Internet

January 29, 2025

The Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act Protects U.S. Workers, Consumers, & Content-Creators from Illegal Foreign Websites

SAN JOSE, CA – U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) – Ranking Member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and a senior member of the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet – introduced H.R. 791, the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA), to prevent foreign-run piracy sites from exploiting loopholes in existing law.

“A decade ago, I was at the center of the successful effort to prevent the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) from becoming law. That was not because I support copyright infringement, but because I support the open internet. Now – after working for over a year with the tech, film, and television industries – we’ve arrived at a proposal that has a remedy for copyright infringers located overseas that does not disrupt the free internet except for the infringers,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA-18). “Those infringers, involved in foreign digital piracy, present a massive and growing threat—costing American jobs, harming the creative community, and exposing consumers to dangerous security risks. The Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act is a smart, targeted approach that focuses on safety and intellectual property, while simultaneously upholding due process, respecting free speech, and ensuring enforcement is narrowly focused on the actual problem at hand. Compromise is often found when you sit and hash out policy recommendations with the workers, companies, and users directly involved, and I appreciate the support from the tech and content communities in this effort. I look forward to continuing to work with Chairmen Darrell Issa and Jim Jordan on anti-piracy measures in the near future.”

The introduction of the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act follows months of roundtable discussions and negotiations involving the content and tech communities to ensure the bill does not include undue liabilities and is both feasible and constitutional.

“The Motion Picture Association applauds Rep. Lofgren for introducing the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act – common-sense legislation that aims to combat the growing harms caused by foreign criminal piracy. Intellectual property theft drains at least $30 billion and 230,000 jobs from the U.S. economy each year. Foreign online criminals also threaten American consumers with malware attacks, financial fraud, and identity theft schemes. More than 55 nations around the world, including democracies such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, have put in place tools similar to those proposed by Rep. Lofgren, and they have successfully reduced piracy’s harms while protecting consumer access to legal content. The MPA thanks Rep. Lofgren for introducing FADPA and for her commitment to work with Chairman Issa to enact legislation this Congress to ensure America’s creators have effective enforcement tools to combat offshore piracy targeting the U.S. market,” said Charles Rivkin, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

“As one of America's leading technology policy think tanks, ITIF recognizes that website blocking has proven to be both technically sound and proportionate in combatting digital piracy, with dozens of nations successfully implementing such measures. Rep. Lofgren's Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act represents a carefully calibrated, technology-informed approach that balances intellectual property protection with internet functionality and individual privacy. ITIF enthusiastically endorses FADAPA as a significant step forward for America’s tech industry, as the legislation will allow companies to address large-scale digital piracy while preserving the open internet,” said Robert Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).

In addition to the MPA and ITIF, the bill is also supported by the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), the Authors Guild, the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE),the Copyright Alliance, and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).

Background

Digital piracy is a massive and growing threat. In 2019, U.S.-produced television episodes and movies were illegally streamed or downloaded 126.7 billion and 26.6 billion times, respectively.¹ By 2022, global visits to movie and TV piracy sites reached 191.8 billion, costing the U.S. economy $29.2 billion annually and threatening more than 230,000 American jobs in entertainment, technology, and small businesses.² Today, some of these illegal foreign online pirate sites are bigger than some of the biggest law-abiding U.S. streaming services. In fact, one such piracy site hit 364 million visits in October 2024, which was larger than Disney+ viewership in that same month.³ Live sports are also a prime target, with piracy draining $28 billion annually from the global sports industry.⁴

Over the past decade, more than 40 countries—including the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Israel—have enacted site-blocking laws that require internet providers to disable access to pirate websites. These policies are effectively reducing piracy in those countries while preserving access to legal content.

Past U.S. efforts to curb piracy failed because they lacked due process, threatened free speech, and provided overly-broad enforcement powers that risked harming legitimate websites and the open internet. The Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act takes a better approach. The bill:

Targets foreign piracy websites (only). By strictly applying to large-scale, foreign-run piracy sites, the bill ensures that lawful U.S. platforms, mixed-use sites, and independent creators remain unaffected.
Respects First Amendment rights. Every blocking order must go through a U.S. court, requiring clear evidence, due process, and judicial oversight to ensure fair enforcement and prevent censorship.
Prevents over-blocking and protects legal content. Courts must first verify that any site-blocking order does not interfere with access to lawful material before issuing an order.
Allows for feasible tech solutions. Unlike past proposals, the bill does not mandate specific technical measures for blocking. Instead, it allows service providers to determine the best, least intrusive method(s) to comply with court orders, preserving internet stability and security.
Provides a narrowly-tailored blocking mechanism. Since orders permitted by the bill are limited to piracy sites that exist solely to infringe copyrights, there would not be overbroad enforcement that could impact legitimate businesses or free expression.
Protects service providers from legal liability. ISPs, DNS providers, and other intermediaries are shielded from lawsuits as long as they comply in good faith with court-ordered blocking measures.

More Information

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_{1 David Blackburn, et al., Impacts of Digital Video Piracy on the U.S. Economy (2019)}
₂_{https://www.alliance4creativity.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WDWK-2022-worldwide-071223.pdf}
₃_{https://torrentfreak.com/hianime-outranks-disneyplus-in-the-u-s-with-record-364m-monthly-visits-250104}
₄_{https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220517005870/en/Piracy-in-Sport-Thematic-Research-Report-2022-Analysis-of-How-the-Sports-Industry-has-Been-Affected-by-Piracy---Sports-Piracy-is-Costing-the-Industry-as-Much-as-28.3-Billion-a-Year---ResearchAndMarkets.com}

Issues:Innovation and TechnologyCybersecurityFree Expression