Senator Schmitt Sounds the Alarm on Foreign Censorship of American Speech

Expresses Severe Concerns Over EU Fining X in Letter to Elon Musk, Calls on State Department to Impose Sanctions, Restrict Visas

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) is sounding the alarm about an emergent international censorship regime that seeks to threaten American free speech and undermine our sovereignty.

First, Senator Schmitt wrote to Elon Musk, CEO of X Corp., over the European Union's attempts to force the social media platform X to adopt draconian speech mandates through a recent $140 million fine. Second, Senator Schmitt wrote to Sarah Rogers, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, calling for the State Department to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on any foreign individual or entity assaulting our freedom of speech.

"Foreign regulators are attempting to enforce radical new censorship laws against US-based social media platforms like X. In so doing, they have levied an attack on our citizens' liberties by seeking to impose a censorship regime on Americans' ability to speak in the digital public square. These attacks pose a direct challenge to our sovereignty and independence as a nation," Senator Schmitt wrote in part.

Senator Schmitt requested answers for the following questions:

1. Does the State Department have the statutory tools it needs to combat this foreign censorship threat, or are additional authorities needed?
2. Are any additional legislative solutions needed to help the United States combat the global censorship-industrial complex's threat to American free speech and sovereignty?
3. What, if any, changes to content moderation and amplification policies have X made in response to foreign censorship laws like the Digital Services Act? How have any such policy changes impacted posts or content originating in the United States?
4. Has X received communications regarding either content moderation or amplification policies from foreign governments since January 1, 2023? Please elaborate on the nature of those communications.
5. How does X respond when a foreign government or NGO-such as a DSA "trusted flagger"-flags content that was posted by a user or account in the United States?
6. Please provide representative examples of such foreign government or NGO requests and copies of the flagged posts, content, or accounts at issue.

Read the full letter to Elon Musk HERE.

Read the full letter to Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers HERE.

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