Elon Musk Says Copyright Law Goes ‘Absurdly Far’ as Sen. Hawley Goes After Disney

Elon Musk said on Thursday that current copyright law goes “absurdly far” beyond protecting the original creator. Musk was responding to news that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is proposing legislation to strip Disney of its special copyright protections.

Hawley on Tuesday proposed the Copyright Clause Restoration Act that would limit new copyright protections to 56 years and make the limit retroactive for major corporations such as Disney that have been granted special exemptions for its copyrights.

“The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over,” Hawley said after announcing the legislation.

“Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists,” Hawley continued. “It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation.”

The Missouri populist said that Disney should not keep its “special favors” and that Congress should end its corporate handouts.

There’s no reason @disney or any other woke corporation should keep getting special favors from government. End the handouts now

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) May 10, 2022

Congress has generated enormous revenue because Congress has allowed Disney to keep renewing its copyrights on animated characters that would normally have passed into the public domain.

Disney has, in some cases, been granted copyrights for up to 120 years, far longer than the initial 28-year threshold.

Hawley has proposed the legislation after conservatives have fought back against Disney’s opposition to the Parental Rights in Education Act. Conservatives have also lambasted the corporation for injecting  “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in its stories.”

Now, Musk, who has bought Twitter for $44 billion, agrees that current copyright protections have gone far too long in reaction to Hawley’s legislation.