News publishers across the country are struggling with a uniquely modern problem – their webpages are being overrun with bots.

Content that is written for human readers is being consumed by millions of these automated crawlers that comb the internet and often go out of their way to disguise their identity and steal content. These uninvited “bad bots,” many of whom come from China or other countries, are slowing down publishers' pages for users and undermining a healthy content licensing market that would support continued community coverage, ultimately impacting countless newsrooms’ ability to serve their readers. 

Publishers have tried to stop these bots on their own, but they need help. Thankfully, Reps. Laurel Lee, R-Florida, Valerie Foushee, D-North Carolina, and Gus Bilirakis, R-Florida, recently introduced the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, a new piece of bipartisan transparency legislation that would require bad bots to disclose their identity and purpose, giving content providers the information they need to protect their work.

This is a simple, commonsense solution that is already receiving wide support from members of Congress on both sides of........

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