Concern about the state of free speech in Europe has reached the highest levels of the U.S. government, and differences between how America and the EU treat free and legal speech are growing greater and all the more worrying.
An anticipated, incoming enforcement action by the EU against Elon Musk’s X will likely reignite those concerns. By using burdensome regulation to penalize and fine a U.S. company, potentially for speech that’s even legal under Europe’s intolerant speech regime, the EU threatens to deepen their divide with the U.S. government at a pivotal moment.
For those of us in the American tech industry, we must recognize that this isn’t just a fight over one company—it’s a warning about the perils of censorship disguised as regulation.
Worse, it’s a glimpse of what could happen here if we let bills like the so-called Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) take root.
Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA), passed in 2022, sounds noble on paper. It allegedly aims to curb illegal content, fight disinformation and protect users. But with these ingredients, it’s really a “Digital Silencing Act.” The EU is threatening X with massive penalties for what regulators claim are failures in content moderation, transparency and its verification system—issues that boil down to not aligning with Europe’s strict speech controls. As X’s Global Government Affairs team put it, “This is an unprecedented attack on free speech and political censorship.” They’re right to call it out: the DSA’s vague rules and hefty fines force companies to over-censor, silencing legal speech to avoid punishment.
The EU’s crackdown on X sends a clear signal to President Trump: Europe’s vision of free speech is worlds apart from our own. Where America celebrates open discourse as a constitutional right, the EU treats it as a privilege to be regulated. By targeting X, a U.S.-based platform, the EU is flexing its regulatory muscle, aiming to control American tech success while potentially reaping billions in fines.
Where America celebrates open discourse as a constitutional right, the EU treats it as a privilege to be regulated.
It’s government overreach with a financial incentive, plain and simple.
This matters because American innovation drives the global internet. Companies like X create jobs, spark creativity and give users a voice. If the EU can bully U.S. businesses into submission, what’s stopping other regions from following suit? President Trump should see this for what it is: a challenge to American leadership in ideas and tech, and an attempt by the EU to take advantage and silence dissent.
The EU’s actions aren’t going unnoticed, and senior government officials are sounding the alarm. Vice President JD Vance has called European tech regulations “digital censorship.” Advocates worry that government-controlled speech, as seen in Europe, stifles the diversity of ideas that fuels democracy. When bureaucrats are put in charge of determining what information is “true” or “safe,” it inevitably undermines our ability as free citizens to determine that for ourselves.
Unfortunately, these draconian ideas have attracted attention in America. The erroneously-titled Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) risks importing Europe’s censorship model. KOSA forces platforms to censor legal speech and limit access to information by imposing vague duties that invite government overreach. Sound familiar? It’s the DSA’s playbook—broad rules, harsh penalties and a chilling effect on free expression.
We’ve seen this movie before. In Europe, the DSA’s enforcement against X shows how quickly “safety” laws morph into tools for control. KOSA, and bills like it, could do the same, handing regulators the power to silence voices under the guise of protecting users.
Europe’s attack on X is a wake-up call. Let’s keep the internet a place where the free exchange of ideas can flourish, not be curtailed and controlled.