The European Digital Services Act (DSA) is a threat to freedom of speech, according to testimony by an Irish barrister from legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
Lorcán Price told the House Judiciary Committee of the US Congress that if the law is passed, online tech platforms, many of which are based in the US, would be forced to censor content not only in Europe, but across the world.
According to Price, the DSA is not intended as a means of protecting or serving the people of Europe, but is meant to be a tool of political control.
“What is happening in Europe is as Vice President Vance said in Munich, a ‘serious retreat from a fundamental value’ - free speech," he said.
"It’s a sign that our European political elite has lost control of the narrative, and the Digital Services Act is part of a system of censorship in an increasing, desperate attempt to control narratives and suppress growing public discontent."
Price further warned that Americans, despite their First Amendment, could find themselves living under the same online censorship regime as Europeans if tech companies started to do their utmost to comply with the act. Companies deemed to have breached the act could be fined as much as six per cent of the global revenue.
The committee also heard from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who pointed to this week’s arrest of sitcom writer Graham Linehan over his trans-critical posts on X as an example of what is now the norm in Britain.
“This could happen to any American. You will be doing us a favour if you said to the UK Government, ‘you simply got this wrong, at what point did you become North Korea,'" said Farage.
