“Americans have been fined, harassed and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their right to free speech,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The United States has issued a new visa policy aimed at foreigners who censor Americans’ freedom of speech overseas.
In a statement on May 28, Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed that this could also be applied to officials involved in overregulating US tech companies.
On May 21, Rubio hinted at the potential approval of Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre des Moraes, who oversees the lawsuit against conservative former Brazilian president, President Jia Bolsonaro, on suspicion of attempted coup after the 2022 election loss.
Bolsonaro, who claims the 2022 election results are fraudulent, is considered by many conservatives as Brazilian President Donald Trump, and has won the sympathy of many Trump followers.
Moraes has been accused by Trump and others of overcoming jurisdiction by attempting to block Brazil’s US-based platform.
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The judge ordered a national block of X in Brazil in August 2024 after the platform failed to comply with court orders to remove certain accounts.
X’s owner Elon Musk first abandoned it but later adhered to it, but on February 25th, Moraes ordered X to pay a $1.42 million fine for his first rebellion.
On February 19, a US judge cooperated with the US President Trump Media Technology Group and its platform Rumble in a lawsuit against Moraz over an order to remove US-based accounts from the platform.
The ongoing theme of free speech regarding fear of mitigating hate speech, disinformation, and other potentially harmful content has entered Europe under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
Effective since February 2024, DSA will meticulously alleviate the way digital platforms display content. This opposes the US First Amendment and the right to freedom of speech, raising the transatlantic tension between the two.
Free speech is generally considered a cornerstone of American democracy, but Europe sees speech as something that should be carefully followed and constructed, with guidelines in mind.
Vice President JD Vance gave a passionate speech at the AI Action Summit in Paris on February 11, accusing the US of using DSAs that strangled US digital platforms to export “authoritarian censorship” to the US.
Among other things, Meta, X, and Google discovered themselves during their EU research into content moderation. No penalties have been issued yet.
However, tensions remain high as sanctions and tariff threats remain on the table, and it seems the EU doesn’t want to back down.
Samuel Samson, a senior advisor to the State Department, described the DSA as “Orwell content moderation,” and published an opinion piece that challenges the UK and Germany with intrusive censorship methods.
He also pointed out Adam Smith Connor and Livia Tosci Bolt.
There is speculation from Samson, and the general alternative German Fuhl Germanland party is labelled as an extremist organization over anti-immigration stance, with figures like Musk over European attacks on conservatism, which is in conflict with the interests of the EU.
