Bill Would Give American Victims Of Foreign Censorship Power To Sue

Republican lawmakers will consider legislation that would allow American citizens to sue foreign entities that censor and violate their First Amendment rights.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) said Thursday that lawmakers were looking into proposals that would protect Americans from foreign censorship. The legislation would mirror proposals introduced in states like Wyoming that would protect Americans from being penalized for their opinions. 

“We are definitely looking at that,” Jordan responded when asked by journalist Michael Shellenberger if Congress would consider proposals similar to the Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny and Extortion (GRANITE) Act introduced on February 5 in Wyoming. 

BREAKING: Congress is considering stripping sovereign immunity of EU censorship officials, prohibiting social media from enforcing censorship orders, and enabling private lawsuits against foreign entities, says @Jim_Jordan echoing remarks made by @UnderSecPD and @DarrellIssa pic.twitter.com/AKjfbBJql9

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) February 5, 2026

Jordan added that lawmakers were trying to find a “remedy” for foreign censorship, saying that “we’re taking a good look at that and seeing if there’s something we can do” regarding the GRANITE Act. 

The GRANITE Act would create a cause of action against foreign states and international organizations that implement censorship laws that violate the free speech rights of Americans, according to a summary of the bill. It would also prevent the state from working with entities that implement foreign censorship. 

Both Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) have already suggested that the United States should take action to protect Americans from being prosecuted under foreign censorship laws. 

Jordan’s comments come after the House Judiciary Committee released documents showing that tech companies were restricting the speech of Americans under Europe’s Digital Services Act and other measures. 

The act empowers the European Commission to impose significant financial penalties on tech companies, which it says are not doing enough to combat so-called disinformation. In certain circumstances, American tech companies may be fined up to 6% of their global revenue if they violate specific conditions of the act.

According to the House Judiciary Committee, the European Union pressured tech companies to create guidelines on what was acceptable speech on topics from mass migration to men participating in women’s sports on the basis of their transgender identity. 

Americans’ speech online has not just been censored by foreign bureaucrats, but also by the State Department. 

In February 2024, The Daily Wire, along with The Federalist and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, sued the State Department over its Global Engagement Center’s relationship with anti-“misinformation” outfits like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI). The suit alleges that those outfits were focused on suppressing American conservative media, and the Global Engagement Center’s support of these groups violated the First Amendment.