Freedom of speech is the first line of defense against tyranny. America’s Founding Fathers understood this. They made free speech the first freedom in the Bill of Rights. They lived under a king who dictated what they were allowed to think, say, and publish. They chose liberty, not authoritarian control. They were willing to die, and many did, to defend that freedom.
Europe is choosing the opposite.
The EU Digital Services Act is a direct assertion of state power over the public sphere. It allows government to decide which ideas are acceptable. It forces private companies to silence their customers on command. It turns dissent into a punishable act. That is censorship. That is political control.
Europeans and the British should remember their own history. The Nazis controlled newspapers, film and radio to shape public belief. The Italian Fascists did the same. The state determined what information reached citizens. People only heard what those in charge wanted them to hear. When government controls speech, government controls the people.
This has never led to freedom.
America nearly went down that path. From 2016 to 2024, Big Tech and the political left aligned. Platforms removed stories. They silenced opinions that opposed government or Left-wing narratives and ideologies. They restricted information before elections in order to control the outcome. That was not an open marketplace of ideas. That was power restricting truth.
The public pushed back. Elon Musk purchased X and ended the platform’s compliance with government censorship demands. He revealed the ugly truth of Government/Big Tech collusion to censor the American People. Citizens demanded open debate and reclaimed it. Americans restored the principles that make the United States different from the rest of the world. Freedom prevailed in November 2024 because the public saw the danger of information control.
Europe is ignoring that lesson.
The DSA claims to protect public safety. It does the opposite. Government officials become arbiters of truth. Bureaucrats police what you can read. They punish platforms for not censoring fast enough. They remove speech they label “offensive” or “inflammatory.” They treat adults as children. They assume the public is too unintelligent to process information freely.
This is not safety. This is control.
Every person has the right to speak, question, disagree, and challenge power. That right belongs to every human being. Race does not matter. Faith does not matter. Nationality does not matter. Censorship steals that right from everyone it touches.
The American Revolution was led by free people who refused to submit to rulers demanding obedience. They knew that the moment government dictates acceptable thought, freedom is already lost.
Europe should learn from that.
You defend freedom when you defend speech. Especially speech that those in power despise. You support open platforms. You reject policies that narrow the boundaries of what you are allowed to say.
Freedom survives only when people demand it.
About the Author
