Editorial: The European Union’s shameful attempt to shut down Donald Trump’s X interview — and what it means for Capitol Hill
Last week, the European Union’s (EU) top digital enforcer took an unprecedented and alarming step by sending a threatening letter to Elon Musk just days before his highly anticipated interview with President Donald Trump on X. The letter, dripping with irony as it was posted on X, demanded that Musk not spread “harmful content” by giving Trump a platform to speak. This blatant attempt at silencing a former U.S. president is nothing short of election interference by a foreign entity.
Fortunately, Musk did what any defender of free speech should do — he ignored the EU’s overreach and proceeded with the interview. Yet, this incident is a glaring reminder of a much broader and more insidious problem that has been creeping into U.S. policy: the EU’s aggressive campaign to censor American conservatives.
Over the past few years, the EU’s digital agency has not shied away from launching investigations and filing charges against nearly every major American technology firm. The recurring theme in these actions is a supposed “failure to properly moderate content,” with Europe’s draconian Digital Services Act (DSA) often used as the legal hammer to demand censorship.
What’s most disturbing is that these foreign bureaucrats have found a willing ally in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under Chairwoman Lina Khan. Khan has openly coordinated with European regulators to target American firms, effectively enabling a foreign power to impose its censorship regime on U.S. companies.
All of this, however, may not be a coincidence. Investigative reporting from the past few months has raised questions about the independence of both the FTC and the USTR. One report found that Lina Khan and the FTC have repeatedly leaned on several outside interest groups heavily financed by liberal billionaire megadonors George Soros and Pierre Omidyar, filling its ranks with former staffers from those same interest groups.
Khan’s partner has been the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai who, instead of advocating for the United State’s interests, has worked to give power to foreign entities to come after U.S. firms. Like the FTC, the USTR, for its part, has also been leaning on outside interest groups funded by Soros and Omidyar, also employing former staffers from those same groups. It’s bad enough that the EU is coming after American businesses for not sufficiently censoring conservative voices, but the fact that our own government is helping them do it is outrageous. No other country would partner with a foreign entity to undermine its own domestic companies—yet this is exactly what is happening here.
While congressional Republicans may not have jurisdiction to hold Europe accountable for its actions, they do have the tools to address the troubling cooperation between American regulators and European bureaucrats. Congress has the power of the purse, the ability to demand documents, hold hearings, and shine a light on this issue. To prevent Europe’s censorship efforts from taking root in the United States, Republicans on the Oversight Committee must make holding Lina Khan accountable a top priority this fall and in the next Congress.
The stakes are high. If left unchecked, the EU’s censorship model could become the norm here, stifling free speech and silencing conservative voices. The time to act is now.
