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The European Union has told the United States to step off as the Trump administration tries to intimidate its members out of regulating social media companies.
As I’ve reported previously, the administration and some of its allies in Big Tech have objected to European regulations, like the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, that are meant to curb the dissemination of disinformation, hate speech and abusive content targeting children on social media platforms. Opponents of these rules claim they are either burdensome on tech companies or an affront to free speech — a truly ironic claim coming from a censorship-happy Trump administration.
After a Truth Social post on Tuesday in which Trump threatened to institute “substantial” tariffs and withhold highly coveted computer chips from countries that regulate American technology, a spokesperson for the E.U.’s executive body appeared to brush off Trump’s threats.
“It is the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activities on our territory, which are consistent with our democratic values,” said European Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho, according to a Politico report.
Another commission spokesperson disputed Trump’s claim that American companies are being singled out:
Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier insisted that the rules are neutral. ‘The DSA does not look at the color of a company, at the jurisdiction of a company, nor the owner of a company,’ he said. ‘The DSA and the DMA both apply to all platforms and companies operating in the EU irrespective of their place of establishment … The last three enforcement decisions that we took were against AliExpress, Temu and against TikTok.’
Elsewhere, the Trump administration has cited Brazil’s content moderation laws — which are intended to curb misinformation and have been used against MAGA-friendly extremists — as one reason for tariffs against that nation. Americans might do well to remember that choice the next time they’re sipping an overpriced cup of Brazilian coffee and wondering whether the tariff-driven price hike is worth it to ensure right-wing extremists in a foreign country have free rein on social media. It’s a consideration that Americans may find themselves making about European products, as well.
Because by yoking the dismantling of tech regulations worldwide to his haphazard and destructive tariff wars, Trump is conscripting Americans’ wallets as leverage in his campaign against nations that are trying to make the internet less of a hellscape than it presently is.