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Twitter’s venting on the Stop Online Piracy Act goes beyond 140 characters

As a controversial act makes it way to Congress, Twitter users are voicing concerns on the microblogging site—while they still can. 

 

Fruzsina Eördögh

Tech

Posted on Nov 16, 2011   Updated on Jun 3, 2021, 1:15 am CDT

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which heads to Congress this week along with the Protect IP Act, has everyone from politicians to ordinary citizens up in arms. Various websites and social media organized digital protests (or just raged) today against the legislation, and Twitter was no exception.

If the Act passes, many say social sites like Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr, could be heavily regulated or removed from the Internet altogether. SOPA also has the potential to directly impact journalists.

With good reason then, Stop Online Piracy Act was a trending topic on Twitter. According to Topsy, the hashtag #SOPA was tweeted more than 54,000 times in the last 24 hours alone.

Users urged each other to sign petitions and call their local politicans. Some vented and shared videos and the text of the act, while still others cracked jokes about the Internet and Congress.

For more information on the Protect IP Act, the Fight for the Future organization created this video. 

 

 

 

Photo by IsaacMao

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*First Published: Nov 16, 2011, 7:14 pm CST