from the Daily Standard
It’s the arrogance of power citizens have grown accustomed to in Europe, but which is facing complete resistance in Trump and Vance’s America. Unelected bureaucrats in Brussels are threatening American tech giants with billions in fines if they don’t do exactly what the EU wants. And what does Brussels want? Censorship. They euphemistically call it “fighting disinformation,” but in practice it means removing objectionable opinions, criticism of immigration, or skepticism about climate policy.
The Eurocrats in Brussels can prepare themselves. For years, they thought they could stifle free speech on the internet unhindered with their dictatorial Digital Services Act (DSA) and their smear campaign against Elon Musk. But they haven’t reckoned with the host.
Rumors that the EU plans to impose a massive fine on X (Musk’s platform) for refusing to censor have rubbed Vance the wrong way. His message is crystal clear: keep your hands off our companies and freedom of speech!
On X, the vice president writes: “There are rumors the European Commission is going to fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not censoring.” He continues with a sentence that will have knees shaking in the Berlaymont buildings: “The EU should be supporting freedom of speech, not attacking American companies over garbage.”
The word “garbage” is telling. Vance dismisses all the EU regulations it bombards citizens with daily as garbage. The EU tries to protect its own failed policies by criminalizing or making criticism invisible. X is the only major platform that doesn’t participate in this, and that’s why for the EU dictators they must be destroyed.
The EU attack on Musk is an attack on America. It seems to be forgetting that the geopolitical balance has shifted. Elon Musk isn’t just a CEO; he’s a close ally of the White House. He took a stand for freedom of speech by buying Twitter and destroying the Leftists’ censorship algorithms. That Brussels is now trying to punish him for restoring freedom is seen as a hostile act in Washington.