How European Censorship Laws Affect You

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary: "How European Censorship Laws Affect You"

Release Date: August 3, 2025

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of Morning Wire, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley and co-host Georgia Howe delve into the implications of European Union (EU) censorship laws on American society. Featuring Jeremy Tedesco, Senior Vice President of Corporate Engagement at Alliance Defending Freedom, the discussion sheds light on the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) and its far-reaching consequences for free speech and online expression in the United States.

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Understanding the Digital Services Act (DSA)

Jeremy Tedesco begins by elucidating the essence of the Digital Services Act:

“The Digital Services Act has actually been around for a while. It's just now becoming truly mandatory. But what it is is essentially a blueprint for total narrative control in the digital age.” ([02:29])

He explains that the DSA imposes stringent speech standards from the EU onto global platforms, including American companies. These regulations threaten substantial fines—potentially billions of dollars—if platforms fail to censor content deemed as hate speech or disinformation according to EU definitions.

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Impact on American Free Speech

John Bickley probes deeper into why the DSA poses a significant threat to American free speech:

“These standards are absolutely going to apply to the kind of speech we can engage in online in the United States.” ([03:18])

Tedesco emphasizes that the EU cannot geofence these regulations, meaning they cannot limit the applicability of the DSA solely to EU member states. As a result, American platforms must comply globally, eroding the First Amendment protections that safeguard free speech in the U.S.

He cites past instances during the COVID-19 pandemic where the EU mandated the removal of content related to vaccines and the lab leak theory—content that, in hindsight, proved to be valid. This precedent illustrates the DSA's capacity to suppress legitimate discourse under the guise of combating disinformation.

Furthermore, Tedesco recounts how EU authorities interacted with American platforms during the 2020 presidential election:

“Thierry Breton... sent a letter to Elon Musk and X... saying... we're really concerned that your interview of President Trump is going to violate the DSA's hateful conduct and incitement standards.” ([07:06])

This move exemplifies the EU's intent to regulate and censor political speech in the U.S., undermining the democratic process.

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Response from Social Media Companies

When questioned about social media companies' reactions to the DSA, Tedesco highlights the severity of compliance requirements:

“The companies have to start deleting, restricting, shadow, banning any speech that could possibly come into conflict with EU laws on hate speech and disinformation.” ([05:24])

He references the suspension of 11,000 Twitter accounts under the EU's definitions of COVID disinformation as evidence of the DSA's impact. With the DSA transitioning from voluntary to mandatory compliance, Tedesco warns of increasing censorship:

“The censorship isn't going to get better. In a mandatory world where the companies truly are facing these crippling fines...” ([05:24])

This shift positions the EU as the arbiters of truth online, posing a direct challenge to American free speech norms.

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Administration Responses: Trump vs. Biden

The conversation shifts to the differing approaches of the Trump and Biden administrations regarding online censorship. Tedesco outlines a stark contrast:

“It's 180 degrees difference with the Trump administration. The Biden administration was a full participant in the censorship aims...” ([06:43])

Under Biden, there was active collaboration with various entities in what Tedesco describes as a "censorship complex," targeting organizations like the Daily Wire. In response, the Trump administration has taken steps to dismantle these efforts by halting federal funding to key nonprofits involved in content flagging and shutting down departments like the Global Engagement Center.

However, Tedesco cautions that these measures only address domestic efforts, leaving international censorship initiatives like the DSA unchallenged:

“The international aim and goal to censor through the DSA and other international efforts to censor is on our doorstep. It's already affecting American speech. It's only going to get worse.” ([07:07])

He expresses hope that leadership figures like JD Vance and Ambassador Anthony Puzder will escalate efforts to negotiate with the EU and counteract the DSA's encroachment on American liberties.

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Conclusion

John Bickley wraps up the discussion by acknowledging President Trump's proven ability to exert influence on international policy, referencing his "strong-arming" tactics at the NATO summit. This sets the stage for potential diplomatic efforts to challenge the EU's censorship laws.

“Well, we've just seen how effective Trump can be in strong arming Europe at the NATO summit. So we'll see if he can force Europe's hand here as well.” ([08:34])

Tedesco concurs, emphasizing the importance of continued advocacy and negotiation to protect free speech from overreaching regulatory frameworks like the DSA.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Morning Wire underscores the growing concerns over international regulations impacting domestic freedoms. Jeremy Tedesco's expert insights illuminate the pressing need for vigilance and proactive measures to safeguard American free speech against expansive censorship laws imposed by the EU.

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Notable Quotes

• Jeremy Tedesco ([02:29]): “The Digital Services Act is essentially a blueprint for total narrative control in the digital age.”

• Jeremy Tedesco ([03:18]): “These standards are absolutely going to apply to the kind of speech we can engage in online in the United States.”

• Jeremy Tedesco ([05:24]): “The censorship isn't going to get better. In a mandatory world where the companies truly are facing these crippling fines...”

• Jeremy Tedesco ([06:43]): “The Biden administration was a full participant in the censorship aims...”

• Jeremy Tedesco ([07:07]): “The international aim and goal to censor through the DSA and other international efforts to censor is on our doorstep.”

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For more in-depth discussions on pressing political and cultural issues, tune in to future episodes of Morning Wire.

Transcript

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[News Anchor]

President Trump finalized a historic trade deal this week with the European Union that economists are celebrating as a massive boon to the US Economy. But while the Trump administration is thrilled about the new deal, the White House continues to put pressure on the EU over its online censorship policies.

[John Bickley]

In this episode, we sit down with an expert from Alliance Defending Freedom to discuss how the EU's policies will impact Americans and how social media companies and the Trump administration are responding. I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Sunday, August 3rd, and this is an encore edition of Money Wire.

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[News Anchor]

Wired today a version of this episode aired earlier this summer.

[John Bickley]

Joining us now to discuss the EU's new online censorship policies is Jeremy Tedesco, Senior Vice President of Corporate Engagement at Alliance Defending Freedom. Jeremy, thank you for coming on.

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Yeah, it's my pleasure, John.

[John Bickley]

So most of our audience will not have heard about Europe's Digital Services act before so let's start there. What exactly is that in these new code of conduct policies?

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Yeah, the Digital Services act has actually been around for a while. It's just now becoming truly mandatory. But what it is is essentially a blueprint for total narrative control in the digital age. What it does is it takes the EU's draconian speech standards and it imposes it on Americans and everybody in the world, really, by threatening big American platforms and search engines with literally billions in fines if they fail to censor speech that the EU deems to be hate speech or disinformation. And Trust me, the EU's definitions of those words, which can't be defined really at all because they're so vague, it's really in the eye of the beholder, completely inconsistent with the free speech standards of the First Amendment in the United States.

[John Bickley]

Now your organization is really sounding the alarm over the DSA and particularly how it will affect Americans. And can you unpack that for us? Why is this such a serious censorship threat?

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Well, these regulations apply almost exclusively to United States companies, and the companies can't geofence so that the EU standards only apply in EU member states. The companies have to, their technology doesn't allow them. The geofence algorithms and how they train AI and all these other things. And so these standards are absolutely going to apply to the kind of speech we can engage in online in the United States. And we know this is true already. Look back in the COVID timeframe, the EU was mandating disinformation on vaccines, on the lab leak theory, all things that turned out to be true. A lot of those views turned out to be true and still valid, even if they weren't true to be spoken. When it comes to American free speech law, those things were taken down because of the Digital Services Act. So we know it has impact on American speech rights right now and in the past. And so it's only going to get worse. One other example I think your listeners should know about was back during the presidential election cycle, last presidential election cycle, Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner who was the final enforcer of the dsa, sent a letter to Elon Musk and X when he was hosting President Trump on a X Live and said, look, we're really concerned that your interview of President Trump is going to violate the DSA's hateful conduct and incitement standards. And we're throwing this lob across the ocean to tell you you better be careful what you say. So they're trying to regulate how we speak and how even Our presidential candidates speak during an election cycle, so they have really no boundaries to what they want to censor. And again, it's really a blueprint for censorship in the digital age, and we need to stop it.

[John Bickley]

How are social media companies responding to these new policies? Have they pushed back against them at all?

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Well, the companies themselves are going to be required to mitigate the risk of harmful content being online. And that's harmful content as defined by EU law. And so the companies have to start deleting, restricting, shadow, banning any speech that could possibly come into conflict with EU laws on hate speech and disinformation. I think about this at a time when the DSA was voluntary for these companies to comply with. We know that 11,000 accounts on Twitter were suspended because of the EU's definition of COVID disinformation. So now that this is going to become mandatory, that's only going to get worse. The censorship isn't going to get better. In a mandatory world where the companies truly are facing these crippling fines if they don't censor consistent with the EU's view of what's right and wrong. I mean, essentially, is the EU setting themselves up as the arbiters of truth online?

[John Bickley]

How has this administration been different than the Biden administration in terms of, obviously, this is a long time coming. We've seen these actions really ramping up, like you said in 2020. How different is the administration responding to this as opposed to the previous one?

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Yeah, it's 180 degrees difference with the Trump administration. The Biden administration was a full participant in the censorship aims, not just of the eu, but this entire censorship complex that President Trump talked about during his campaign trail, where private companies, academic institutions, media outlets, nonprofit organizations.

[John Bickley]

Daily Wire.

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Yeah, yeah, but the Daily Wire was, of course, one of the targets of all that. Of course. And we're battling that out as you are in court. We are in the public square and with a lot of the companies that did that to you. So the Trump administration has turned that all around. They've stopped a lot of the funding that even our own federal government was funding. A lot of the nonprofit organizations that were a key part of this censorship complex, those ones who flagged content and outlets like yours for censorship. But he's also stopped a lot of the coordination efforts. He shut down entire departments like the Global Engagement center, that were kind of the tip of the spear when it came to that under the Biden administration. But what we've learned as we've dug more and more into this issue is it doesn't solve the censorship problem online just to stop the federal government from everything it was doing. This international aim and goal to censor through the DSA and other international efforts to censor is on our doorstep. It's already affecting American speech. It's only going to get worse. And so we certainly have been encouraged by how much JD Vance has talked about this issue. President Trump has certainly prioritized free speech and diplomatic conversations and negotiations with European countries. And we hope that starts to ramp up really, with the EU as well as Ambassador Anthony Puzder, who's the ambassador to the European Union, hits the ground sometime soon.

[John Bickley]

Well, we've just seen how effective Trump can be in strong arming Europe at the NATO summit. So we'll see if he can force Europe's hand here as well. Jeremy, thank you so much for joining us.

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Yep. Thank you.

[John Bickley]

That was Alliance Defending Freedom's Jeremy Tedesco. And this has been a weekend edition of MORNING wire.

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[Jeremy Tedesco]

Oh, come on.

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They called a truce for their holiday and used Expedia trip planner to collaborate on all the details of their trip. Once there, Mike still did more laps around the pool.

[Jeremy Tedesco]

Whatever.

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