Trump administration resorts to censorship to counter what it claims is rampant censorship by European governments

In early 2025, aides to Vice President JD Vance ordered a small office at the State Department to document how European regulators were censoring online speech.

Staffers launched an investigation focusing on the European Union’s Digital Services Act, a sweeping 2022 social media law requiring large tech companies to limit the spread of harmful or illegal speech on the continent.

The weeks-long investigation, details of which have not previously been reported, uncovered no records indicating censorship, according to two people familiar with the matter ….

“There is no evidence that Member States of the European Union are overreaching the DSA to censor and criminalize online content,” they wrote in conclusion.

Despite the finding, the Trump administration has pressed ahead with a wide-ranging State Department effort to crack down on what it alleges is widespread censorship in the E.U. ….

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It has banned some European researchers from entering the United States and dismantled federal programs intended to fight foreign disinformation campaigns.

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In the United States, the GOP has been fighting tech company policies for years that seek to limit the spread of hateful or false content.

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