Web Censorship Laws in Europe, California Will Silence All Americans, Experts Say

Americans’ ability to speak to an online audience is rapidly being restricted by censorship laws in Europe and in states like California and New York, legal experts say.  

The proliferation of vaguely defined “hate speech” and “misinformation” laws, such as Europe’s Digital Services Act and California’s “Defending Democracy Act,” has raised concerns that these laws will enable foreign governments and left-leaning states to dictate what any American can say online.   

“The [Digital Services Act] is a blueprint for total narrative control in the digital age,” Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Signal. “The European view of speech is completely out of synch with what American constitutional standards permit,” he said, but several U.S. states are now following Europe’s lead. 

The European Commission states that the Digital Services Act will “create a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected.” Its defenders say it blocks illegal or harmful content and only applies to EU countries. 

But a member of the European Parliament, Virginie Joron, called the Digital Services Act “a Trojan horse for surveillance and control.” 

The Digital Services Act requires large online platforms to restrict “illegal speech,” defined as content deemed illegal in any EU member country, and which in Germany can even include insults. The act also requires platforms to “mitigate” content that could have “actual or foreseeable negative effects” on civic discourse, elections, public security, gender-based violence, public health or any person’s physical and mental well-being, which includes so-called “misinformation.”  

Violators could face fines of up to 6% of their total global revenue.  

Critics of the law say the definitions are vague, leaving it to EU officials to determine what people are allowed to say online.  

“It’s up to the [European] Commission to decide whether the platforms are in compliance or not, and whether they’re doing enough to mitigate these so-called systemic risks, like the spread of disinformation,” John Rosenthal, an analyst of European politics, told The Daily Signal. “And if the Commission is not satisfied, it’s up to the Commission also to apply these fines.” 

If tech companies suppress the visibility of content versus taking it down, he said, users probably won’t know they’re being silenced.  

“During the COVID period, it was easy to see what was being censored because, for instance, if there were reports on myocarditis as a result of COVID-19 vaccines, then you could see that somebody writing or tweeting on that would get a so-called ‘misleading’ label,” Rosenthal said. But with current tactics of content suppression, “we don’t really know what’s being suppressed,” he said.  

Or as Elon Musk stated in 2022, “Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” 

In May, the U.S. State Department stated that it was “deeply concerned about efforts by governments to coerce American tech companies into targeting individuals for censorship.” 

In June, a bipartisan American delegation led by House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, met with European and U.K. officials, arguing that their laws will silence Americans. Jordan posted on X that in the U.K. “mean tweets get you a longer prison sentence than many violent offenses.” 

And a July 25 House Judiciary Committee report stated that “the [Digital Services Act] infringes on American online speech” and that “Governments, including the EU, weaponize the terms ‘disinformation’ and ‘hate speech’ to censor their political opponents and criticism from their constituents.” 

The report stated that “nonpublic documents reveal that European regulators use the [Digital Services Act]: (1) to target core political speech that is neither harmful nor illegal; and (2) to pressure platforms, primarily American social media companies, to change their global content moderation policies in response to European demands.” 

The Babylon Bee, a conservative satirical publication, says it has frequently been censored for legally protected speech, beyond the borders of jurisdictions with speech codes. 

“There’s always the danger that political satire will be treated as misinformation,” Seth Dillon CEO of the Babylon Bee, told The Daily Signal. “We’ve experienced it countless times with real consequences, from down-ranking to demonetization to suspension. 

“It’s burdensome for [online] platforms to build complex regional carveouts for speech, and I don’t expect that to happen because it’s simpler and more cost effective to default to the most restrictive policy and apply it everywhere,” Dillon said. “Germany’s NetzDG law, for example, technically only applies in Germany, but social media platforms have at times treated it like a universal rule.” 

Among Western countries, Germany has led efforts to regulate speech; its 2017 NetzDG (Network Enforcement Act) features fines up to 50 million euros for “hate speech,” including insulting government officials. This law served as a prototype for the Digital Services Act. Left-leaning U.S. states have also followed Germany’s lead. 

California’s Defending Democracy From Deepfake Deception Act of 2024 bans “deceptive” content before an election, and New York’s 2023 “Online Hate Speech Law” requires social media sites to post state regulations on “hateful conduct” and create “mechanisms” for users to report such conduct. 

The Babylon Bee is currently suing California over its speech codes, and legal analysts say Americans must act against the Digital Services Act as well. 

“There has to be action taken by the U.S. government, maybe in the context of trade talks,” Rosenthal said, or U.S. laws that would “essentially make it illegal for U.S. companies to comply with the [act] in any way whatsoever that would imply censoring or limiting the visibility of constitutionally protected speech.” 

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