Trump against Europe: the US will launch a website to bypass censorship

The United States State Department is working to establish an online portal that will allow users in Europe and around the world to bypass government blocks on content, the Reuters news agency reported. The website, which is expected to operate under the address “freedom.gov”, is designed to display content defined by foreign governments as hate speech or terrorist propaganda, in a move that Washington sees as a tool to fight censorship.

The initiative is expected to exacerbate tensions between President Trump’s administration and the United States’ allies in Europe, which has already been affected by disputes over trade, the war in Ukraine and President Trump’s desire to gain control of Greenland. While US law protects almost all forms of expression, the European Union imposes restrictions on content to prevent extremist propaganda. Officials in Washington have argued that laws like the EU’s “Digital Services Act” suppress conservative voices and right-wing politicians in Germany, France and Romania. In the national security strategy published in December, the administration warned that Europe is facing a “civilizational erasure” due to its immigration policy.

The launch of the site was planned for last week at the security conference in Munich but was postponed. According to the report, lawyers at the State Department expressed concerns about the plan, which could put Washington in a position of encouraging citizens to break local laws. However, a State Department spokesman denied reports of a delay or legal concerns, stressing that digital freedom and technologies to bypass censorship are a top priority for the office.