On Monday, Federal Communications Commission President Brendan Kerr called for the European Union's content moderation law to be incompatible with the American free speech tradition, warning of the risk of overly restricting freedom of expression.
“I am particularly concerned about the approach that Europe is taking in the DSA (EU Digital Services Act),” Kerr, a Republican, who was appointed to FCC Helm by President Trump in January, told Barcelona's Mobile World Conference.
He said that DSA's approach is “incompatible with both our free speech tradition in America and the commitment these tech companies have made to diverse opinions.”
Kerr is the second-highest US official in recent months to challenge European regulations. In February, Vice President Vance denounced content moderation at the AI summit in Paris, calling it “authoritarian censorship.”
Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office, making free speech the central theme of his presidency and “restore freedom of speech and end censorship.”
Reflecting this stance, Carr said, “From President Trump to me, across the government, we are encouraging technology companies to stop the censorship they've seen in the past few years.”
Effective a year ago, DSA aims to make the online environment safer and more equitable by strengthening more tech giants to tackle illegal content such as hate speech and child sex abuse materials.
A European Commission spokesman opposed Carr's comments, saying the allegations of censorship against the DSA were completely unfounded.
“The purpose of digital laws, such as the DSA, is to protect fundamental rights,” spokesman Thomas Leisure said. “Like VP Vance put it at the AI Action Summit in Paris, we all agree with the need to ensure that the internet is a safe place.”
Trump signed a memorandum warning that his administration would scrutinise the DSA, but last week Kerr sent a letter to American tech companies demanding a briefing on how the DSA would be coordinated with the American free speech tradition.
One possible solution is for Geofencing (regional content restrictions) to create separate geographic platforms for EU compliance and the free speech requirements of the US administration.
However, Kerr said it is unclear whether this approach is technically viable.
“If there's an impulse to regulate protectionism in Europe and treat U.S. technology companies differently, the Trump administration makes it clear that we're speaking up and defending the interests of U.S. companies,” he said.
