S.9934A/A.11292 contains overly broad definitions and vague standards that would sweep in countless routine, consumer-beneficial internet functions — from search indexing to cybersecurity scanning — far beyond any legitimate concern about AI and journalism. The bill’s undefined liability standards, lack of a knowledge requirement, and unprecedented disclosure obligations would expose technology companies of all kinds to severe and unpredictable litigation risk, driving investment and jobs out of New York.
NetChoice Letter of Opposition to NY S.9934A/A.11292, NY Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act
June 4, 2026
The Honorable Carl E. Heastie
Speaker, New York State Assembly
LOB 932, Albany, NY 12248
The Honorable Edward P. Ra
Minority Leader, New York State Assembly
LOB 933, Albany, NY 12248
Re: NetChoice Opposition to NY S.9934A/A.11292
Dear Speaker Heastie and Minority Leader Ra,
NetChoice writes in opposition to S.9934A/A.11292, the proposed “New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act.” We share the Legislature’s goal of supporting quality journalism in New York. However, as currently drafted, this bill is overbroad, technically unworkable, and would expose a wide range of technology companies — well beyond AI developers — to severe and unpredictable litigation risk. We urge the Legislature not to advance this legislation and instead work collaboratively with industry stakeholders before the next legislative session.
The Bill’s Scope Sweeps Far Beyond AI
The bill defines “crawler” to mean any automated tool that retrieves, scans, indexes, or otherwise accesses a website. This definition is not limited to AI training or data harvesting, and would capture a broad range of routine, consumer-beneficial internet functions, including:
- Price comparison and monitoring tools
- Search engine indexing
- Cybersecurity and vulnerability scanning
- Link preview generation
- Accessibility and archiving services
These are established, widely used functions that benefit consumers and businesses across industries, from price transparency tools that help shoppers find the best deals, to security scanners that protect companies from cyberattacks, to search indexing that makes the web navigable. None of these functions have anything to do with AI training or the harvesting of journalistic content. Yet as written, the bill would sweep them all in. The consequence is not merely a compliance burden but a direct threat to investment in New York’s technology sector. Companies that cannot predict whether their routine operations expose them to $15,000-per-day penalties will build, hire, and expand elsewhere. Smaller firms and startups, which lack the legal resources to navigate ambiguous liability, will be hit hardest. The bill’s supporters seek to protect an important industry; this legislation, as drafted, would harm another one without any corresponding benefit to journalism.
Key Definitions are Vague and Invite Unpredictable Liability
The definition of “covered news source” relies on broad, subjective terms that lack clear objective criteria. Companies will be forced to choose between over-complying and chilling legitimate activity, or risking liability they cannot reliably predict. The bill also fails to include a knowledge requirement — meaning companies could face significant penalties for unintentionally accessing a covered news source, deterring investment in New York without any corresponding benefit to journalism.
The Disclosure Requirements Are Operationally Unworkable
While the bill incorporates the existing user-agent identification standard, Section 1752(b) goes far beyond it by requiring operators to disclose all uses and purposes that crawled content could be used for, in a format accessible to the journalism provider — a sweeping obligation with no precedent in existing industry practice.
Requiring real-time, comprehensive disclosure of all potential downstream uses is not operationally feasible at scale. A bespoke New York requirement risks undermining the existing national standard and would lock operators into a rigid protocol that is ill-suited to adapt to future technology developments. It would also create compliance burdens disproportionate to any benefit. Additionally, the bill does not account for agentic services acting at a customer’s direction — a fast-growing product category — creating significant ambiguity around who bears responsibility for compliance and liability.
The Enforcement Mechanism is Designed for Abuse
The bill’s pre-action subpoena process allows journalism providers to compel discovery before any lawsuit is filed, complaint is served, or judicial review of the merits occurs — and without any evidentiary basis. This bypasses the normal rules of civil procedure and is precisely the type of provision NetChoice has challenged in other contexts as an invitation to abusive litigation.
The bill compounds this problem in several ways:
- “Economic harm” is undefined and explicitly does not require proof of actual injury, creating a plaintiff-friendly standard ripe for speculative claims.
- The absence of a knowledge requirement means liability can attach even to operators who did not know they were accessing a covered news source.
- Together, these provisions create severe asymmetric litigation risk for the technology sector broadly.
NetChoice and our members support a robust, independent press in New York. We are committed to working constructively with the Legislature to develop solutions that address the legitimate concerns underlying this bill. However, S.9934A/A.11292 as currently drafted would cause significant collateral harm to the technology ecosystem without meaningfully advancing those goals.
We respectfully urge that these bills not advance this session and that stakeholders be convened before next session to develop a legally sound, operationally feasible proposal.
Sincerely
Amy Bos
Vice President of Government Affairs, NetChoice (The views of NetChoice expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of all NetChoice members.)
NetChoice is a trade association that works to protect free expression and promote free enterprise online.