European Digital Services Act Demonstrates How Online Safety Laws Threaten American Free Speech
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Europe’s Speech Crackdown Is Crossing the Atlantic | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." March 6, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that Congress shouldn't pass laws like KOSA to protect kids online because Europe's similar law has already started censoring American speech. Instead of government regulation, parents should handle protecting their own children online.
Conclusion
Congress should reject KOSA and similar online safety legislation because they will inevitably restrict American free speech, as demonstrated by Europe's Digital Services Act
Premises
- The EU's Digital Services Act has already restricted online speech beyond European borders, including in America
- European regulators pressured social media platforms to moderate content that affected what Americans could say and see online
- The DSA targeted legitimate political speech including populist rhetoric, anti-immigrant sentiment, political satire, and meme culture
- KOSA uses the same regulatory approach as the DSA by pressuring platforms to restrict content based on subjective harm standards
- Online safety laws inevitably expand beyond their intended scope because different political sides disagree on what constitutes 'harmful' versus 'informative' content
- Parents already have the tools they need to protect children online without government censorship
Assumptions
- Government regulation of online content inevitably leads to censorship overreach
- Private parental control is preferable to government intervention in online speech
- American free speech values are fundamentally different from and superior to European approaches
- Social media platforms will comply with the most restrictive regulations globally rather than maintain different standards by region
- Political speech that some find offensive should be protected rather than regulated