Make Speech Free Again: How the U.S. can defeat E.U. censorship.

Claremont Review of Books ^ | Spring 2025 | John Rosenthal

[T Ruth]

On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second presidential term, Donald Trump signed an executive order: “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The bad old days of the “censorship-industrial complex,” allegedly responsible for suppressing online speech under President Joe Biden, were over.

Except they weren’t. The driving force behind online censorship had never been the U.S. government, which meant that freedom of speech could not be restored by the stroke of a president’s pen. Rather, the European Union has wielded its Digital Services Act (DSA) to restrict the speech not just of Europeans but especially of Americans and other English-speakers. The E.U. has not violated the free-speech rights of Americans, since it has no obligations under the U.S. Constitution. But it has vitiated those rights, essentially nullifying the First Amendment in cyberspace.

The DSA is not a “threat” to free speech, as some American commentators put it, implying that possible danger lies in the future. Because the DSA is in force now, all major online platforms and search engines must comply with it to remain on the E.U. market. There is effectively no free speech on the internet nowadays, at least not on the major platforms falling under the DSA’s strictest provisions, but only more or less heavily curated, algorithmically managed speech.

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; European Union; Foreign Affairs; France; Germany; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 666; antisemitism; censorship; dissent; dsa; eu; europe; eussr; fourthreich; freespeech; socialism; tds; thebeast

[T Ruth]

A long, but important read. Effectively, the European Union is forcing internet intermediaries to censor the speech of Americans.

[Angelino97]

The EU aren't the only foreigners pushing for internet censorship.

[Israeli] Government anti-Semitism conference endorses net censorship.

[zeestephen]

European Free Speech - Ping

[Jarvis Law 2.0]

But But But, Barry Soetoro Obama promised us that would never happen way back when.

[Alas Babylon!]

Try saying online you do not belief in Mohamad as a prophet in any Muslim country.

You will be censored in all of them, and more than censored in some of them, perhaps even killed.

[Angelino97]

So you're saying that Israel and Muslims nations (and the EU) advocate censorship?

I agree.

[No name given]

Bathhouse Barry lied big time.

[Alas Babylon!]

In the whole world, only ONE country guarantees the right to free speech. Only one.

The USA.

Israel, Canada, UK, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Iran, Spain, India, Guatemala, etc., etc....

ALL force censorship.

I’m not going to get bent out of shape over Israel, a free country in a sea of Islamic tyranny.

I do, however, wish the Israelis would adopt our Bill of Rights, as well as other Western countries.

[Angelino97]

I’m not going to get bent out of shape over Israel, a free country in a sea of Islamic tyranny.

This thread began with the EU censoring the internet (which means censoring Americans).

Israel is also censoring the internet (which means censoring Americans).

Censoring the internet is entirely unrelated to Israel's bordering of Muslim nations. It's lame to raise it as an excuse.

[Alas Babylon!]

LOL! Okay, you win the Internet.