"Content Agnostic": EU Official Denies Anti-Free Speech Policies In Bizarre Letter To Congress
"Content Agnostic": EU Official Denies Anti-Free Speech Policies In Bizarre Letter To Congress
After returning recently from https://jonathanturley.org/2025/03/24/a-new-world-order-with-european-values-the-unholy-union-of-globalism-and-anti-free-speech-measures/
is both evasive and deceptive.
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In my book, https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668047047?tag=simonsayscom
, I detail how the DSA has been used to allow for sweeping speech investigations and prosecutions. In direct contradiction to past statements by the EU, Virkkunen denied any effort to regulate speech or enforce the DSA outside of Europe.
What is particularly maddening is the false claim that the EU remains “deeply committed to protecting and promoting free speech.” Many in the free speech community view the EU and the DSA as the greatest threatshttps://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/19/the-eu-just-declared-war-on-free-speech-in-america-it-is-time-to-fight-back/
in the West.
In his letter, Jordan correctly raised the concern that the DSA could “limit or restrict Americans” constitutionally protected speech in the United States by compelling platforms to crack down on what the EU considers “misleading or deceptive” speech.
In her response, Virkkunen bizarrely describes the DSA as “https://www.politico.eu/article/social-media-law-does-not-regulate-speech-eu-tech-chief-tells-us-lawmaker-henna-virkkunen/
while insisting that the DSA “applies exclusively within the European Union.”
That is not what EU officials previously said or what the law itself allows. https://www.eu-digital-services-act.com/Digital_Services_Act_Article_34.html
of the DSA require all sites to identify, assess, and mitigate “systemic risks” posed by content, including any threats to “civic discourse”, “electoral processes,” and “public health.” It is up to the EU to define and judge such categories in terms of compliance.
The act bars speech that is viewed as “disinformation” or “incitement.” European Commission Executive Vice President https://thehill.com/people/margrethe-vestager/
celebrated its passage by declaring that it is “not a slogan anymore, that what is illegal offline should also be seen and dealt with as illegal online. Now it is a real thing. Democracy’s back.”
Some in this country have turned to the EU to force the censorship of their fellow citizens. After https://thehill.com/people/elon-musk/
bought Twitter and dismantled most of the company’s censorship program, many on the left went bonkers. That fury only increased when Musk released the “Twitter files,” confirming the long-denied coordination and support by the government in targeting and suppressing speech.
In response, https://x.com/HillaryClinton/status/1517247388716613634
and lashed out at the failure to control disinformation).
The EU immediately responded by threatening Musk with confiscatory penalties against not just his company but himself. He would have to resume massive censorship or else face ruin.
This campaign recently came to a head when Musk had the audacity to interview former president Donald Trump. In anticipation of the interview, one of the world’s most notorious anti-free speech figures went ballistic.
Former European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services Thierry Breton issued a threatening message to Musk, “We are monitoring the potential risks in the EU associated with the dissemination of content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political — or societal — events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections.”
The EU has long been one of the most aggressively anti-free speech bodies in the world. It has actively supported the evisceration of free speech among its 27 member states. The EU is not “agnostic” when it comes to free speech; it has long championed a type of free-speech atheism.
We have faced EU officials engaging in Orwellian doublespeak for years. Nevertheless, Virkkunen’s letter to Jordan stands out for its sheer mendacity.
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Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668047047?tag=simonsayscom
.”
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Sat, 03/29/2025 - 09:20