#humans are space orcs fandom

[all-eyes-no-dragon]

I wanted to rec this for a while. This is the most amazing humans are space orcs story I've ever read. It's called, "In Search of Home".

It's an original work so there's no fandom you need to know to read it, it's over 362,000 words, which is more than decently long, and has an ongoing sequel that's surpassed the word count of the first story (we love getting closure 💞). It has a happy ending (not a spoiler, it says in the tags) so don't worry about your heart breaking too much.

I'm rereading the first story and I feel kind of cool knowing the alien words.

I cried reading it, I laughed, I felt victorious. I love it so much and want more people to know it exists because original works aren't as popular on ao3.

Mind the tags!

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43547319

Summary:

[wemlygust]

I am so deeply frustrated that the Humans Are Space Orcs tag has 45 pages of fics on ao3, and 78 pages of bookmarks on ao3, and it's *still* not marked common and can't be filtered on, even though I KNOW I'm not the only one who reads these fics across fandoms. It's like a cross fandom fandom. People even write original works on ao3 and tumblr and reddit as Humans Are Space Orcs. That's not even accounting for synonym tags like Humans are Space Velocirators, Earth is a Deathworld, Humans Are Deathworlders, Earth is Space Australia, etc. None of which are treated as synonyms or grouped together, and none of which are marked common. Some people even made a freeform Humans Are Space Orcs - Fandom tag, and that's not grouped in with the others or filterable or an officially findable/usable fandom tag either. What other fandom/trope has THIS MANY TAGS to describe it, and so many places they're used, and yet... Nope, the tags aren't marked common, and you can't apply filters to them? I've never seen any others that were quite this ignored. (Maybe they exist nonetheless though - feel free to reblog and gripe about your fav "uncommon" tags if so.) I even contacted ao3 support and asked for help with this once, literal years ago, and here we are years later, and still no. Even though there are many much less popular/much less often used tags that *are* marked common. I feel like this is an anvil weighing down what could have been/could be a vibrant fandom. People can't search for and find the fic properly if we can't filter it and sort it or see all the synonymous tags together! It's hard to even search and find if there are any new ones I haven't read already, because I can't even do a filter "sort by new" search! Let alone sort by kudos or use time ranges or etc. Call me dramatic, but having to fight all this every time I want to engage with this cross-fandom fandom/trope/whatever-you-wanna-call-it kinda makes me wanna cry sometimes. It's been like this for years now! And I'm still wanting to read these fics, and I still can't search for them properly because of this problem that is still here! Help! Filtering on an individual other fandom tag, with Humans are Space Orcs as an additional tag, doesn't work either, because Humans are Space Orcs fics are too spread out between various other fandoms. You can only find a sliver of the existing fics that way, and only if you try it on, like, every fandom under the sun. We shouldn't have to do that.

I think this must also be part of why there's so many Humans Are Space Orcs originals that get posted everywhere BUT ao3. Here on tumblr, and even on reddit - there's a whole subreddit for it - and peoples' own websites. Which is fine, people are allowed to do that, but it means all that writing is more vulnerable to potentially getting taken down or lost than if it could be easily shared on the archive as well. And it's hard to find, let alone search through for the best stuff. I dare say it's hidden from new people who might want to discover it, too. Please mark at least some of these tags common and group their synonyms, ao3. I'm begging here.

[rewrittenwrongs]

It is late and I am quite tired so this might be incoherent but alien music. Alien instruments and alien anthems. Alien nursery rhymes. You know how certain pitches and tones just sound sad? To some other race they sound happy. Things that sound uplifting and happy to us use notes that are sad and melancholy to them.

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Terrans are not the strongest species in the universe. They are not the fastest species. They are most definitely not the smartest. But Terrans are the loneliest, willing to befriend anything that moves and several things that don't.

Author: @bainshiewrites

Note from submitter: Very Fun Series. 

[mumblesplash]

do you ever end up accidentally getting super attached to a trope so specific and rare you don't even know how to look for it? 'space aliens failing to understand that a human showing teeth usually isn't a threat display' isn't even an ao3 tag. finding that shit in published fiction or tv shows is next to impossible

[norclop]

Important question, How does one go about making a fandom official on Ao3?

I'm asking because I really like humans are space orcs and all the related tags, but almost never go through it because they're a pain. They have no filters and aren't even organized by date of update so you can accidentally reread the same thing or spend hours looking through it just to find the ones you have already read.

How do we fix this?

[sonicasura]

Shin Godzilla feels like the type to follow and act like a super affectionate cat to anyone who could make their pain go away. This iteration of our favorite classic monster is a mutated animal whose genetic structure is highly unstable. Shin Godzilla can evolve to counter any serious threat but the price for this ability is constant unimaginable pain.

You can compare it to Monster Hunter's Deviljho, a powerful Brute Wyvern whose species evolved so fast that it became detrimental. They burn through their energy too fast and will devour entire ecosystems just to maintain themselves. Even Deviljho chicks will cannibalize each other if there isn't enough food.

The worst thing about Shin Godzilla is that he wants to live. Despite the immense pain, he continues to evolve to survive whatever the military threw at him. His entire being is a consequence of nuclear weapons and radiation. Shin adapted like any animal would in order to survive such a hazardous environment.

It's pretty clear that his DNA is unstable hence the pain and unstable mutations. Meditating the pain would be easier to handle than trying to stabilize genetic code. Also the only opening to do so is before Shin emerges to run around Tokyo i.e 1st or 2nd.

When you consider humans have a tendency for taking care of creatures in trouble, it won't be unsurprising someone spots the mutant and tries to help. I bet Shin would latch himself onto anyone who would give him kindness or compassion. A mixed bag considering the bloke will probably have a giant affectionate mutant follow them everywhere.

Kinda like Godzilla the Animated Series with Zilla Jr but its Shin whose evolutionary pattern has become unpredictable. The new caretaker would do their best to hide him from danger so any potential incident that leads to further evolution beyond legs is unpredictable. Shin Godzilla's evolutionary path could alter through other factors than just life or death. Kinda like a genetically fucked up Eevee.

What do you think?

[mollyjimbly]

im just feeling amazed at the internet and how anyone can make a story and then a whole multiverse can grow from it, so many different ideas and au's and gorgeous things and memories. you can practically build an entire universe right inside your head.

im looking directly at you humans are space orcs ❤️ /pos

[luimagines]

Another request because my brain has decided to start working somewhat the chain finding someone not from their world

This one... Is very vague. So don't mind if I take many creative liberties XD

Masterlist

Part one will include Wild, Legend and Hyrule.

Content under the cut!

Wild

Wild wasn't sure if he was meant to be looking at this person at the moment.

She had a high ponytail, with their quiver and shield strapped to their back. The sheath which held her sword rested at their hip, a very familiar sheikah slate was hooked on the other side.

She was blond with blue eyes and burn marks all over the side of their face in a very familiar pattern.

Wild gulped and stuck a hand out, trying to mean no harm. "Uh, hi. Why do you look like me?"

She eyes him with suspicion and slowly puts her hand in his. "I could be asking you the same thing."

"Hey Cub, have you seen- oh god there's two of them." Twilight fumbles out of the surrounding foliage. He blurts his words without thinking and points.

The girl eyes him with just as much suspicion, borderline glaring at him. Twilight shrinks back somewhat, not expecting this. "Hello...Can we help you?"

"You look familiar." She mutters and but shakes her head. "Where am I? Who are you people?"

Twilight coughs. "My name is Link and his name is Link. We're... actually not from here. But you can call me Rancher or Twilight. I respond to both. He goes by Champion or Wild. What's your name?"

She takes a step back, very purposefully looking them both up and down.. "...My name is Linkle..."

Twilight looks just as lost as Wild feels. Wild shakes his head, smacking his cheeks for good measure. He hopes that there's no triggered memory because of this. That would really bad at the moment.

"A new hero maybe?" He ventures tentatively. "We're going to have to tell the others."

She looks even more on guard. Her hand goes to rest on the hilt of her sword. "Others?"

Twilight nods, putting his hands up. "We have a group of others named Link...We're all heroes of Hyrule. Sound familiar?"

She doesn't relax but she nods. She makes no move to follow them though. "Where's Prince Zelden?"

Wild frowns. "Never heard of him....There's Princess Zelda though but she's not here right now."

Everything about her reminds him of himself but it's never been so... off. Is it because she's a girl or too similar to him? Wild cant figure it out.

He looks over Twilight as he pinches the bridge of his nose. He's getting a headache. Wild isn't sure why though. She's his look alike- Oh wait, that might be why.

Wild offers his arm like any good gentleman (Sky would be proud). "We all have questions, I'm sure. Together we can both try to figure out what's happening. Would you like to join us for lunch? I was about to start the fire."

She slowly reaches for his arm and nods. "...Yes. I'd like that actually. Thank you."

Twilight shakes his head. "I'll let the boy know we have company... Please don't set anything on fire."

"...I need to start the fire though."

"You know what I mean."

The girl next to him giggles. "I have a friend just like him. She tells me the same thing all the time."

Wild smiles. "She sounds fun."

Legend

He had to crane his neck to get a decent look at them.

They were huge, as big as a hinox. They had four arms and a massive maw full of razor sharp teeth. They has large scales on their body in a brilliant green color. The closest thing Legend could compare them to were beatle wings but they must much larger and hard as a rock.

"Admiring my armor?" They said. Their voice shook Legend to his core. Something about it spoke of power and restraint.

He finds himself nodding. "It's armor then? How do you put in on? There's no strap of anything."

They laugh. "Of course not. It's a part of my body. They've only gotten this strong because of all the times I've torn them off."

They poke their shells. It makes a small dull sound. They bring it closer for Legend to touch as well. He does, only because he has no idea what would be considered weird in this circumstance. It's smooth but warm. Solid. "Did it hurt, Sniper?"

"Of course." They pull back. "The blood is always a pain to clean up but it's necessary where I'm from. My people pick from the toughest warriors and strongest soldiers. There's someone I have my eyes on so I hope to prove myself tough enough to form a life bond."

Legend nods. He understands only the need to peacock to catch attention. He doesn't understand the rest of it.

"The Drev are a war species." They explain, as if that's an normal to say. "We pride ourselves in being unbeatable and we train our young from a young age to be a merciless on the battle field as out predecessors."

Legend finds himself only getting more freaked out by this conversation. Is this normal? Can someone call him or something? Get him out of this!

"We..." He tries to explain himself and his people. But how does he not piss off this giant behemoth of a creature?

They had met up while they were tracking down the shadow. The shadow ran out of a portal like their life depended on it and this...Drev, came out chasing him. It appears they they did enough damage to be thirsty for more.

It's unnerving.

No one really had a choice when they said they were traveling with hem now to track down the shadow and given their battle prowess... they weren't going to turn them away from that either.

"You are all soft and squishy." The drev pokes his leg. "It's incredibly you've all survived as long as you have."

They laugh and Legend is inclined to let them have their moment. Of course it's obvious that they've all had close calls. What does he even say to that?

Hyrule

Hyrule knew by this point that there were many worlds beside his own. His own world has changed so much that he could hardly recognize it outside of his own existence. It might as well be a different place entirely.

So when he comes face to face with a person who's entire bottom half is a serpentine, he's not exactly inclined to ask many questions at first.

Their eyes are bright and vibrant. Between the slits down the center and their yellow color, Hyrule finds himself drawn further into their differences.

Their tail is black with orange bands. Similar scales trail up their uncovered torso and over their joints and arms. Their hands are completely covered by the scales and end with razor sharp black tinted claws. The scales become more patchy by their neck, face and hairline and end when long black hair starts to grow out of their scalp.

Hyrule seems to focus more on the their face, trying to make the situation as less awkward as possible. It only polite to hold relative eye contact. "Hello."

They slither away, crouching lower to the ground.

The others shout and cry out from just behind him. The creature has made itself known but apparently by mistake.

"Hyrule! Are you hurt?" Warrior calls out, running with his weapon out.

Hyrule forces himself to his feet. The sight of the new being has left him a little unsteady, but he doesn't want them to attack for no reason. "I'm ok! We're all good here!"

That gets them to slow down at least.

Legend makes it to him first with the help of his pegasus boots. Hyrule is tackled into a hug and pushed behind the other hero. "What on earth?"

"This is new to you too?"

"I've never seen anyone like them."

They slither back even farther and start going up a tree.

"Wait!" Hyrule moves away form Legend, even putting his hand on the outstretched blade to lower it. "Don't go away! We won't hurt you."

"But will they hurt us?" Warrior slide in, also holding his weapon.

"They didn't even do anything!" Hyrule tries to defend. "We just crashed together, that's all."

"Looked more like an ambush to me."

The snake being pulls themself higher into the tree, never taking their eyes off of the young boys as they begin to gather around.

Hyrule bounces his knee nervously and coughs. "Do you have a name?"

The person tilts their head and looks to the rest of them.

Legend clicks his tongue. "Do they even speak?"

"....Kara."

The entire group stills.

"My name is Kara."

Part 2

[differentdancesfandom]

I have risen from the dead

(and fuck, what happened to Tumblr? Is Xkit not working anymore??)

If you're not subscribed to my AO3 author account, you may have missed:

They're Your Paladins, Allura (genfic, humans are weird) (1,159 words)

Pobody's Nerfect (Lotidge fluff) (469 words)

Let Me Cut In (Lotidge if you squint, fluff) (738 words)

These were also from the 2023 Fandom Empire Monopoly challenge on Dreamwidth, and I hadn't realized that I never posted them to Ao3 despite them being short and complete.

More old VLD challenge fills from FE Monopoly 23 and half-finished drafts to come; good news is they're more substantial than the three above, bad news is because they're 2k or more words, it's taking longer to edit and polish.

And more new stuff to come, too. As if my brain wasn't always working on new ways to throw these two together.

I know it's 2024, and even if y'all are quiet, I know you're still out there!

NGL I was very sad to come back and see only one new fic tagged Lotor/Pidge since my shortfics in 2023 though. Was kinda hoping more people would join the ship.

Yes yes, be the change you want to see. Okay, I'm gonna captain this ship.

[aimportantdragoncollector]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki & Kirishima Eijirou, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Inko, Bakugou Katsuki & Yagi Toshinori | All Might Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima Eijirou, Midoriya Inko, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Midoriya Izuku, Iida Tenya, Akaguro Chizome | Stain Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Space, Humans are space orcs, Bakugou Katsuki-centric, Bakugou Katsuki & Kirishima Eijirou Friendship, Angry Pomeranian Bakugou Katsuki, Fan Bakugou Katsuki, Parental Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Parental Midoriya Inko, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Kirishima Eijirou is a Ray of Sunshine, Hero Killer Stain Arc (My Hero Academia), Protective Iida Tenya, Crack Series: Part 7 of A Guide to Death Worlders Summary:

Kiri-Shima has decided to become best friends with the new human student Katsuki Bakugo. And he’s not taking no for an answer.

[nerdybluephoenix]

Next Page (will come back to link it)

Short comic I'm working on

To manage your expectations, it's not a full story. It's really just a test comic. I originally made a sketch to practice comic-making. Then thought: "this isn't bad, I should see what this looks like cleaned up." I proceeded to make a 3D spaceship model for it so I didn't have to waste time agonizing over the ship's angles, chose a color scheme, cleaned up some sketches, and now we're here

[catherinerandom-blog]

Guys, guys, guys.

Do you guys know about the 'Humans are Space Orcs' trope?

[what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me]

Does anyone else remember when humans are space orcs was all over tumblr. Anyways. Can’t believe I haven’t posted about my Kirby space orcs au ever

[chibikittens]

a little sad and frustrated again over HFY. I used to love all these stories, and I’ll admit I haven’t been involved in it lately so I could be completely wrong, but are there any... good stories anymore?

(ngl this is just a vent post about nothing important bc I love to complain, but hey if you have any recommendations... ;_;)

It feels like so many of them steal ideas from one another, and- fine. It IS a fandom, after all. That’s kind of the point. But it seems like so many stories out there are just really wonky (barely there) science facts without any real overarching story. Or stories with interesting ideas but NO drive to explore them. It’s just “woooa humans have this funny organ/bio-chemical and it makes them WAY BETTER than these weak silly aliens who have the personality of a wet napkin haha!” (which is its own problem too ngl)

(and some of them are like, ‘posted 8 hrs ago’ and blatantly rips off a 5m youtube video that just came out about the exact same super niche trivia knowledge... like... cmon)

And then there are the... pro-war, weirdly eugenics-y ones out there that make you raise your brow at the moral. Like all the stories where humans (or whoever) have to prove their personhood, and then... they do. They prove it, as if they needed to in the first place. Or the ones like “fuck with humanity and find out” and then the aliens fuck around and they find out, and there’s SO MANY of those, why are there so many...?

And like I’m not saying there can’t be stories with complex and flawed societies! I’ve read great stories out there like that! It just doesn’t feel like those are being written anymore, and any sense of nuance has been lost, exchanged for this sense of genetic or mental superiority, and it’s so off-putting...

And I think it’s frustrating ‘cause I have read super amazing stories that frankly, baffling that they’re free?? Like, published-book-quality stories I would’ve been glad to pay for.  I remember Prey, an unfinished story where humans were one of two of the only predatory species in the galaxy - and sure, it wasn’t perfect, the enemy was genetically evil. But, as the human race was being shown in its complexities within the story, and their predatory-nature was mostly political and they directly acknowledge the more nuanced hunter-gatherer type of background humanity has had, maybe there would’ve eventually been something like that for the other species too. Sad it ended, but it was showing a lot of promise for unraveling more nuanced ideas along the way.

And then there’s Betty Adam’s short stories! Where, yes, the humans are wacky but their alien counterparts are just as wacky, too! And, not only are the alien cultures unique, but so are the individuals within the cultures as well! And they’re not all just drab fucking dry and salty fucking white-coat scientists! (Just god how much I have come to loath that character sub-type) (I should just be reading those ones honestly, like can I tell you how fucking refreshing it was that, instead of reading another adrenaline-story ((you know the ones they’re ALL the same)) I read a short story where a cleaner wouldn’t start cleaning cause someone moved his favorite broom, and an insectoid person was like ‘what does it matter lol also you have a favorite broom???’)

And then the shorter stories that actually had heart to them, stories that were smaller in scale but just as passionate as the galaxy-wide stories. I remember this one where a man crashes onto a planet, and is rescued by the aliens living there, only they don’t live as long as he does... he ages so slow in comparison that he becomes a sort of living historian/weather predictor for them, and when he finally dies at the end, its like such a profound shift, like this man who has seen generations after generations of this species live and grow and thrive, and he’s just... gone, too. Like everything else that came before.

I dunno. I just needed to vent about it I guess. I miss those stories. Maybe they still exist and I just can’t find them because the sites they’re posted to aren’t really meant for story-archiving and they become buried and lost, but if they’re there then I cannot find them, and I get sad thinking about that too.

[balasora]

Spread this far and wide, and always remember anytime someone from the government tries using kids as part of there argument it usually means they're up to some shady shite. If you think this won't affect you, YOU ARE WRONG; because long term if this passes it'll make protesting anything significantly more difficult as they'll also be able to pull any and message boards for that kind of activity. While you may not be arrested for talking about it you'd likely be added to a permanent watch list meaning everything from your viewing habits to instant messaging history would scrutinized.

Be safe y'all

URGENT: 🚨🚨EARN IT ACT IS BACK IN THE SENATE 🚨🚨 TUMBLR’S NSFW BAN HITTING THE ENTIRE INTERNET THIS SUMMER 2023

April 28, 2023

I’m so sorry for the long post but please please please pay attention and spread this

What is the EARN IT Act?

The EARN IT Act (s. 1207) has been roundly condemned by nearly every major LGBTQ+ advocacy and human rights organization in the country.

This is the third time the Senate has been trying to force this through, and I talked about it last year. It is a bill that claims "protects children and victims against CSAM" by creating an unelected and politically appointed national commission of law enforcement specialists to dictate "best practices" that websites all across the nation will be forced to follow. (Keep in mind, most websites in the world are created in the US, so this has global ramifications). These "best practices" would include killing encryption so that any law enforcement can scan and see every single message, dm, photo, cloud storage, data, and any website you have every so much as glanced at. Contrary to popular belief, no they actually can't already do that. These "best practices" also create new laws for "removing CSAM" online, leading to mass censorship of non-CSAM content like what happened to tumblr. Keep in mind that groups like NCOSE, an anti-LGBT hate group, will be allowed on this commission. If websites don't follow these best practices, they lose their Section 230 protections, leading to mass censorship either way.

Section 230 is foundational to modern online communications. It's the entire reason social media exists. It grants legal protection to users and websites, and says that websites aren't responsible for what users upload online unless it's criminal. Without Section 230, websites are at the mercy of whatever bullshit regulatory laws any and every US state passes. Imagine if Texas and Florida were allowed to say what you can and can't publish and access online. That is what will happen if EARN IT passes. (For context, Trump wanted to get rid of Section 230 because he knew it would lead to mass govt surveillance and censorship of minorities online.)

This is really not a drill. Anyone who makes or consume anything “adult” and LGBT online has to be prepared to fight Sen. Blumenthal’s EARN IT Act, brought back from the grave by a bipartisan consensus to destroy Section 230. If this bill passes, we’re going to see most, if not all, adult content and accounts removed from mainstream platforms. This will include anything related to LGBT content, including SFW fanfiction, for example. Youtube, Twitter, Reddit, Tiktok, Tumblr, all of them will be completely gutted of anything related to LGBT content, abortion healthcare, resources for victims of any type of abuse, etc. It is a right-wing fascists wet dream, which is why NCOSE is behind this bill and why another name for this bill is named in reference to NCOSE.

NCOSE used to be named Morality in Media, and has rebranded into an "anti-trafficking" organization. They are a hate group that has made millions off of being "against trafficking" while helping almost no victims and pushing for homophobic laws globally. They have successfully pushing the idea that any form of sexual expression, including talking about HEALTH, leads to sex trafficking. That's how SESTA passed. Their goal is to eliminate all sex, anything gay, and everything that goes against their idea of ‘God’ from the internet and hyper disney-fy and sanitize it. This is a highly coordinated attack on multiple fronts.

The EARN IT Act will lead to mass online censorship and surveillance. Platforms will be forced to scan their users’ communications and censor all sex-related content, including sex education, literally anything lgbt, transgender or non-binary education and support systems, aything related to abortion, and sex worker communication according to the ACLU. All this in the name of “protecting kids” and “fighting CSAM”, both of which the bill does nothing of the sort. In fact it makes fighting CSEM even harder.

EARN IT will open the way for politicians to define the category of “pornography" as they — or the lobbies that fund them — please. The same way that right-wing groups have successfully banned books about race and LGBT, are banning trans people from existing, all under the guise of protecting children from "grooming and exploitation", is how they will successfully censor the internet.

As long as state legislatures can tie in "fighting CSAM" to their bullshit laws, they can use EARN IT to censor and surveill whatever they want.

This is already a nightmare enough. But the bill also DESTROYS ENCRYPTION, you know, the thing protecting literally anyone or any govt entity from going into your private messages and emails and anything on your devices and spying on you.

This bill is going to finish what FOSTA/SESTA started. And that should terrify you.

Senator Blumenthal (Same guy who said ‘Facebook should ban finsta’) pushed this bill all of 2020, literally every activist (There were more than half a million signatures on this site opposing this act!) pushed hard to stop this bill. Now he brings it back, doesn’t show the text of the bill until hours later, and it’s WORSE. Instead of fixing literally anything in the bill that might actually protect kids online, Bluemnthal is hoping to fast track this and shove it through, hoping to get little media attention other than propaganda of “protecting kids” to support this shitty legislation that will harm kids. Blumental doesn't care about protecting anyone, and only wants his name in headlines.

It will make CSAM much much worse.

One of the many reasons this bill is so dangerous: It totally misunderstands how Section 230 works, and in doing so (as with FOSTA) it is likely to make the very real problem of CSAM worse, not better. Section 230 gives companies the flexibility to try different approaches to dealing with various content moderation challenges. It allows for greater and greater experimentation and adjustments as they learn what works – without fear of liability for any “failure.” Removing Section 230 protections does the opposite. It says if you do anything, you may face crippling legal liability. This actually makes companies less willing to do anything that involves trying to seek out, take down, and report CSAM because of the greatly increased liability that comes with admitting that there is CSAM on your platform to search for and deal with. This liability would allow anyone for any reason to sue any platform they want, suing smaller ones out of existence. Look at what is happening right now with book bans across the nation with far right groups. This is going to happen to the internet if this bill passes.

(Remember, the state department released a report in December 2021 recommending that the government crack down on “obscenity” as hard the Reagan Administration did. If this bill passes, it could easily go way beyond shit red states are currently trying. It is a goldmine for the fascist right that is currently in the middle of banning every book that talks about race and sexuality across the US.)

The reason these bills keep showing up is because there is this false lie spread by organizations like NCOSE that platforms do nothing about CSEM online. However, platforms are already liable for child sexual exploitation under federal law. Tech companies sent more than 45 million+ instances of CSAM to the DOJ in 2019 alone, most of which they declined to investigate. This shows that platforms are actually doing everything in their power already to stop CSEM by following already existing laws. The Earn It Act includes zero resources for proven investigation or prevention programs. If Senator Bluementhal actually cared about protecting youth, why wouldn’t he include anything to actually protect them in his shitty horrible bill? EARN IT is actually likely to make prosecuting child molesters more difficult since evidence collected this way likely violates the Fourth Amendment and would be inadmissible in court.

I don’t know why so many Senators are eager to cosponsor the “make child pornography worse” bill, but here we are.

HOW TO FIGHT BACK

EARN IT Act was introduced just two weeks ago and is already being fast-tracked. It will be marked up the week of May 1st and head to the Senate floor immediately after. If there is no loud and consistent opposition, it will be law by JUNE! Most bills never go to markup, so this means they are putting pressure to move this through. There are already 20 co-sponsors, a fifth of the entire Senate. This is an uphill battle and it is very much all hands on deck.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES.

This website takes you to your Senator / House members contact info. EMAIL, MESSAGE, SEND LETTERS, CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL. Calling is the BEST way to get a message through. Get your family and friends to send calls too. This is literally the end of free speech online.

(202) 224-3121 connects you to the congressional hotline. Here is a call script if you don't know what to say. Call them every day. Even on the weekends, leaving voicemails are fine.

2. Sign these petitions!

Link to Petition 1

Link to Petition 2

3. SPREAD THE WORD ONLINE

If you have any social media, spread this online. One of the best ways we fought back against this last year was MASSIVE spread online. Tiktok, reddit, twitter, discord, whatever means you have at least mention it. We could see most social media die out by this fall if we don't fight back.

Here is a linktree with more information on this bill including a masterpost of articles, the links to petitions, and the call script.

DISCORD LINK IF YOU WANT TO HELP FIGHT IT

TLDR: The EARN IT Act will lead to online censorship of any and all adult & lgbt content across the entire internet, open the floodgates to mass surveillance the likes which we haven’t seen before, lead to much more CSEM being distributed online, and destroy encryption. Call 202-224-3121 to connect to your house and senate representative and tell them to VOTE NO on this bill that does not protect anyone and harms everyone.