Members of a bipartisan congressional delegation that visited Europe last week came back just as concerned as ever about the tightening crackdowns on free speech across the pond.
Members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee visited Belgium, the UK, and Ireland to meet with European leaders and discuss ongoing threats to free speech online. But European leaders could not assuage Republicans’ fears for the future of free expression, according to an August 5 committee press release.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), for instance, stated, “Nothing we heard in Europe eased our concerns about the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, or Online Safety Act.” He further slammed these “sweeping regulations” noting that they “create a serious chilling effect on free expression and threaten the First Amendment rights of American citizens and companies.”
Jordan conceded that protecting children is necessary, and even used the European Union (EU) terms to agree that governments should “keep harmful, illegal content off these platforms.” But, he contended, “when governments or bureaucracies suppress speech in the name of safety or regulation, it sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the core of Western democratic values.”
Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), chairman of the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, was equally vehement. “America innovates, China replicates, then Europe regulates,” he stated. “That was a recurring theme in just about every meeting we had during this CODEL. American companies based in Europe are frustrated, but we were able to gather a lot of valuable information and feedback.” CODEL is a term for a congressional delegation abroad.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) called out a specific EU regulation. “Unfortunately, Europe has veered off course—and to be frank, the United States did too in recent years under the Biden Administration,” Kiley said, before warning that EU regulation could have an impact on America too.
“I’m also deeply concerned about how laws like the Digital Markets Act [DMA] are being weaponized against American companies—many of them based in California. This kind of overreach doesn’t just burden innovation; it effectively shifts wealth from the U.S. to Europe,” Kiley continued. “That’s not something we can ignore, and it should be front and center in future U.S.–EU negotiations.” He intends to press this point to the Donald Trump administration.
The EU and UK governments have triggered international backlash due to their efforts to crack down on free speech, including through the EU’s DSA and the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA). These laws often arbitrarily define many opinions as hateful or extremist and demand censorship. For example, activist Tommy Robinson was just arrested again in the UK for his social media posts.
Robinson stated Wednesday his offense under the OSA was posting a critique of a school in England where none of the students speak English as a first language and an anti-Hamas post that included “F*** Hamas” and “F***Islam.” Lawyer Eva Vlaardingerbroek reported at the end of June that over 170 Germans had been raided and their devices confiscated in one day over social media posts.
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