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EU rejects claims of censorship targeting US tech giants  but Trump threatens
sanctions

Date:
Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:23:16 +0000

Description:
The Digital Services Act seeks to create a safer online environment, said the
EU. Yet, according to US officials, it limits free speech and unfairly 
targets American tech firms.

FULL STORY

No, the EU's Digital Service Act (DSA) doesn't constitute internet censorship
and isn't designed to harm US big tech giants specifically. 

This is the blunt reply from the European Commission on Tuesday, August 26,
2025, in response to accusations made by US President Donald Trump the day
before  Reuters reported . 

On Monday, in fact, another report from Reuters revealed that the Trump
administration was considering imposing sanctions against the European Union
and any member states looking to implement DSA rules. 

The EU's Digital Service Act seeks to create a safer online environment, said
the EU, by limiting the spread of illegal content, including hate speech and
child sexual abuse material, and disinformation on digital platforms. It also
bans manipulative advertising practices. 

Washington sees these actions as restrictions on Americans' freedom of 
speech, with a government spokesperson confirming to Reuters that authorities
are monitoring the situation in Europe "with great concern." 

DSA enforcement decisions have so far affected X and Meta, but also
Chinese-owned companies like AliExpress, Temu, and TikTok, said an EU
spokesperson.

Beyond the EU

US officials' concerns around new digital regulations aren't limited to the
EU, though, nor to the Digital Service Act. 

In a Truth Social post , Trump shared his intentions to "impose substantial
additional tariffs" on all countries that target American tech companies with
digital taxes or regulations, "unless these discriminatory actions are
removed." 

This comes only days after a pledge from the Chair of the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) to at least 13 US tech giants, including Apple, Alphabet
(parent firm behind Google), Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, to resist UK and EU
demands to weaken encryption and censor content. 

Besides the EU DSA, the FTC raised the alarm about two UK laws in particular
the Online Safety Act and Investigatory Powers Act . 

US officials have been critical about the latter, following a Technical
Capability Notice (TCN) issued under the law that hit Apple in February and
led the tech giant to remove its advanced end-to-end encryption protection
from iCloud in the UK market. The UK, however, has now agreed to drop its
Apple encryption backdoor request , in a victory for Washington. 

At the end of July, mandatory age verification in the UK was also enforced as
per the Online Safety Act, age-gating not just adult-only content, but also
so-called legal but harmful material across multiple platforms like social
media, dating apps, and even music streaming services, like Spotify. 

Millions of Brits have so far turned to the best VPN apps to bypass age
checks, mostly for fear of the privacy and security consequences of sharing
their most sensitive data with third parties.

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/eu-rejects-claims-of-censor
ship-targeting-us-tech-giants-but-trump-threatens-sanctions

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