President Donald Trump and the United States appear to stand alone in the fight to preserve free expression.
From Trump signing two massively important pro-free speech executive orders (the first ending government-orchestrated censorship, and the second rolling back Biden’s burdensome artificial intelligence agenda) and unveiling the truth about COVID-19 to the ongoing antitrust suits against Google and Meta and to Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismantling the censorship nerve center (the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub, a rebranding of the Global Engagement Center) within the State Department, much is being done to correct course and loosen the Biden-era censorship cartel’s stranglehold on American liberty.
Meanwhile, the global left continues racing to strip away free speech liberties with nations and governments the world over marching perilously on, seemingly towards ever more powerful surveillance states and greater tyranny.
Take Europe for example. As reported by Reclaim The Net, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claimed that the EU would continue enforcing its anti-free speech online rules—the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA)—“without fear” in apparent response to the Trump administration’s approach to free expression.
Then there is the United Kingdom, a nation in which individuals are being hauled off to prison for online statements that run counter to the government’s preferred narrative on a great number of topics, perhaps chief among them: illegal immigration. Of course, what has transpired thus far in the UK may only pale in comparison to the type of speech chilling that will occur if the UK government and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair get their way on a new artificial intelligence-powered mass surveillance project. In what reads like a communist Chinese government-style social credit system run-amok, “[t]he final report contains recommendations to introduce mandatory universal digital ID and online age verification, as well as expand the use of live facial recognition, AI, and data analytics,” according to Reclaim The Net.
Let’s not forget Ireland either. Irish authorities are reportedly recommending things already widely tested by the left elsewhere in the world, from “pre-bunking” to “fact-checking” in a new “National Counter Disinformation Strategy.” And as is often the case with leftist censors, almost anything deemed “disinformation” will be censored (demonitized) via an online advertising system.
Not to be outdone, Reclaim The Net also reported that—surprise, surprise, the German government’s new ruling coalition is proposing censorship laws framed as protecting freedom of opinion.
How about Turkey? TechCrunch reported that earlier in the month of April, Bluesky—one of the left’s favorite new platforms put together by former Twitter head Jack Dorsey—“restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey at the request of Turkish government authorities … [and a]s a result, people in Turkey can no longer see these accounts, and their reach is limited.”
And in an all too familiar dystopian push, comes communist China. The Reclaim The Net headline and subheadline says it all: “China’s Palm Payment Push Is Here … In China, your hand is now your wallet, and maybe soon, your ID, and subway ticket too.” And terrifyingly enough, deployment of these tools may soon make their way to other areas of the world as well. “The [palm-based biometric terminal] arrives at a time of rapid expansion in the biometric payments sector,” according to the report. “Forecasts estimate that more than 3 billion people will use biometrics for transactions by 2026, with total payments surpassing $5 trillion. Major players are already onboard: Amazon has integrated palm authentication across US retail and healthcare facilities, while JP Morgan is gearing up for a national deployment in the same year.”
The examples above only scratch the surface of the real and present danger that exists worldwide in the fight to preserve free speech. And it’s clear from the Trump administration’s actions that America is up to the challenge. But there is still much work to be done. MRC is as committed as ever to fighting for America’s first freedoms.
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
