User blog comment:TOR/Join us in protecting the freedom of user-generated content/@comment-33359237-20180909120721/@comment-20644-20180909183142

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which is a US federal law, internet service providers like FANDOM are shielded from liability for copyright violations committed by users of the service. That’s true so long as we follow the DMCA’s notice and takedown provisions, which means if we receive a valid DMCA takedown request then we act on it and remove the allegedly infringing content.

That means acting only when a takedown request has been received.

If we were to proactively police for alleged copyright violations under the current legal framework, we would risk that safe harbor status. An internet service provider that takes it upon themselves to decide what is and isn’t a copyright violation assumes liability for copyright violations that they failed to identify or misidentified as not being a violation.