EU Threatens Musk With Sanctions Over Suspending Media&After Ignoring Media Bans Under Old Twitter JONATHAN TURLEY
However, it was the appearance of the EU that was most jarring. We have been discussing efforts by figures like Hillary Clinton to enlist European countries to force Twitter to restore censorship rules. Unable to rely on corporate censorship or convince users to embrace censorship, Clinton and others are resorting to good old-fashioned state censorship, even asking other countries to censor the speech of American citizens. It is an easy case to make given the long criminalization of speech in countries like France, Germany, and England.
The EU responded immediately by threatening Musk that restoring free speech could result in immediate sanctions or an entire ban. Now, EU commissioner Vera Jourova warned that the EU s Digital Services Act was preparing to act to defend press freedom: Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.
Jourova s self-righteous tirade was almost comical given the EU s long-standing attacks on free speech and silence of prior media suspensions. Jourova insisted [The] EU s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our Media Freedom Act.
Really? Where was Jourova and the EU when Twitter was aggressively suspending media like the New York Post for publishing the true story of Hunter Biden s laptop? How about the slew of conservative writers and experts barred for questioning official accounts on issues ranging from Covid to climate change?
Not surprisingly, the EU is threatening to use the unprecedented anti-free speech law recently passed by the body.