Does a European Union law regulating online content impact free speech in America? House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is concerned the law might have an impact and he is going to receive a briefing from the European Commission on the subject.
It all started with the interview between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on X in August. Just before the interview, European Commission member Thierry Breton sent an open letter to Musk urging him to take what he called “effective mitigation measures” against harmful content that could incite “violence, hate and racism.”
Breton said the EU’s Digital Services Act has a due diligence requirement, and because X has approximately 100 million users in the EU, what he calls harmful content from Trump could spillover even though it originated in the United States.
He also reminded Musk that there are ongoing proceedings against X under the Digital Services Act and that any “illegal content” in the Trump interview could be relevant to those proceedings.
Jordan accused the European Commission of trying to intimidate, threaten or coerce Musk.
“Your threats against free speech do not occur in a vacuum, and the consequences are not limited to Europe,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Breton. “The harms caused by EU-imposed censorship spill across international borders, as many platforms generally maintain one set of content moderation policies that they apply globally.”
Jordan also rejected Bretton’s statements to the committee that “the DSA does not regulate content” and that he would “never interfere in the American democratic process.”
Jordan explained his philosophy on censorship.
“To oppose censorship of so-called ‘disinformation’ is not to defend or to endorse the content,” Jordan said. “It is to respect the right and the ability of citizens to consume content and to make decisions about what speech is persuasive, what is truthful, and what is accurate.”
“To oppose censorship is to acknowledge that a government with the authority to define disinformation will inevitably do so in a way that benefits those in power at the expense of the truth,” Jordan continued.
Jordan accepted Bretton’s offer to brief the committee on the subject. Their staff are working on scheduling.
