Senators Coons, Tillis, Blackburn, Schiff introduce bipartisan, bicameral legislation to protect U.S. internet users from foreign online piracy

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced the AI Systems Transparency Act (ASTA) which would require AI companies to be more transparent with the public about what data their models are collecting from users, the safeguards WASHINGTON -U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the Deterring Extraterritorial Foreign Exploitation of Networks Damaging Intellectual Property (DEFEND IP) Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would allow U.S. courts to direct internet service providers to block specifically identified foreign criminals and the piracy sites they operate from gaining access to U.S. internet users. Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Ben Cline (R-Va.) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

"Pirating American movies, TV shows, art, and books by foreign websites steals tens of billions of dollars from the U.S. economy each year, costing our creative community hundreds of thousands of jobs," said Senator Coons. "This bipartisan, bicameral legislation will give American creators the tools they need to protect their intellectual property rights, while ensuring the internet remains a vibrant forum for free speech."

"Foreign piracy continues to threaten American creators, putting well-paying jobs at risk, while exposing consumers to malware, identity theft, and other serious online harms," said Senator Tillis. "The DEFEND IP Act provides a targeted, commonsense tool to shut down these foreign, criminal operations at the source while protecting lawful speech and due process. I'm proud to lead this bipartisan effort to safeguard America's creative economy and strengthen digital security, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to counter these threats."

The DEFEND IP Act would only target foreign-operated websites dedicated to piracy, require a showing of harm and ongoing monitoring, hold service providers harmless for implementing orders, and safeguard legitimate websites and free expression. This legislation was originally introduced as a discussion draft of the Block BEARD Act of 2025.

The following organizations endorse the DEFEND IP Act: the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), American Society of Collective Rights Licensing (ASCRL), the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the Recording Academy, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA), the Copyright Alliance, Songwriters of North America (SONA), the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), CreativeFuture, the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP), the Authors Guild, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM),the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA).

"The Motion Picture Association commends Representatives Lofgren and Cline and Senators Tillis, Coons, Blackburn and Schiff for introducing the bipartisan, bicameral DEFEND IP Act - a bill to deliver a long-overdue judicial site-blocking framework to the United States. By enacting this legislation, our country can deploy a highly effective tool to protect creators and consumers from overseas digital piracy, all while safeguarding free speech and preserving the open internet. For more than a decade, similar policies have been used to great effect by democratic allies like the United Kingdom and Australia. We look forward to working with Congress and stakeholders to enact this important measure into law," said Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of Motion Picture Association.

"We are grateful to Senators Tillis, Coons, Blackburn, and Schiff and Representative Lofgren for their bipartisan, bicameral leadership in crafting the DEFEND IP Act, which empowers US federal courts to protect consumers, rightsholders, and markets from large scale foreign piracy," said Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of Recording Industry Association of America. "Similar tools have proven effective around the world over the last ten years with no harm to speech, Internet infrastructure or security, or participation online, and we look forward to working with the sponsors to create a simple, effective judicial remedy as this bill moves forward."

"The DEFEND IP Act would help protect American creators from foreign actors who steal and profit from their content. The legislation provides important due process protections by entrusting website-blocking authority to the courts, while protecting Internet users by leaving the technical implementation of blocking injunctions to qualified experts rather than judges. This calibrated approach balances the need to protect America's creative industries with the interests of Internet users," said Daniel Castro, president of ITIF.

"We applaud Rep. Lofgren, and Senators Tillis, Coons, Blackburn, and Schiff for their commitment to protecting the millions of Americans working in the creative industries by introducing this site-blocking legislation," said Ruth Vitale, CEO of CreativeFuture. "Our film and television industry employs 2.01 million workers. The industry is composed of more than 162,000 businesses, 93% of which employ fewer than 10 people. Piracy, most of which is coming from territories beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement, threatens to undermine all of this. The overwhelming evidence from almost 60 countries around the world with site-blocking in place proves that these laws shift traffic away from illegal pirate sites toward the legal marketplace. We look forward to seeing a judicial site blocking law enacted here in the U.S."

"Foreign piracy operators have spent years hiding beyond the reach of American law, profiting from the work of American creators while U.S. courts stood powerless to stop them. The DEFEND IP Act closes that gap. It is the leading compromise on this issue, giving creators a real remedy while fairly balancing the interests of internet providers, users, and the public. Every blocking order must be approved by a federal judge, reaches only sites dedicated to piracy, and includes safeguards for legitimate speech and commerce. We thank Senators Tillis, Schiff, Coons and Blackburn and Representative Lofgren for their bipartisan leadership, and we urge Congress to swiftly take up further consideration of this bill," said Andrei Iancu and David Kappos, chairmen of the Board of Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP).

"Visual artists should not have to stand by while their work is systematically exploited by foreign piracy sites simply because those sites operate beyond the reach of traditional enforcement tools. The DEFEND IP Act would provide right holders with an important, court-supervised mechanism to protect their creative works and the livelihoods that depend on them," said James Silverberg, CEO of American Society for Collective Rights Licensing (ASCRL).

"Authors' books are pirated at an enormous scale by foreign websites that operate beyond the reach of U.S. law, depriving writers of income they depend on to earn a living. The DEFEND IP Act would give authors and other copyright owners a court-supervised tool to stop these offshore piracy sites, and the Authors Guild thanks the bipartisan sponsors for standing up for American writers," said Mary Rasenberger, CEO of Authors Guild.

"Composers and lyricists who write music for film, television, and video games routinely see their work exploited by foreign piracy sites that operate beyond the reach of U.S. law. The DEFEND IP Act gives creators a court-supervised tool to stop these offshore bad actors and protect the music, and the livelihoods, that American storytelling depends on," said Ashley Irwin, president of the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL).

"The DEFEND IP Act provides a balanced, court-supervised remedy to address offshore pirate sites that specialize in the mass theft of literary works. AAP applauds the bipartisan sponsors of this legislation for their leadership in protecting the intellectual property of publishers and authors, whose livelihoods directly depend on the protection and enforcement of their rights," said Maria A. Pallante, president and CEO of Association of American Publishers (AAP).

The text of the bill is available HERE.

A summary of the bill is HERE.