A high-level gathering at the European Parliament this Wednesday is poised to shine a spotlight on what many view as a dangerous expansion of government authority over digital expression. Billed as the first event of its kind, the conference brings together politicians, legal minds, and rights advocates from across the political spectrum to scrutinize the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping regulation that compels tech companies to remove vaguely defined content or face steep penalties.
Titled “The Digital Services Act and Threats to Freedom of Expression,” the event is co-hosted by ADF International, a legal group that specializes in defending fundamental rights and features a cross-party lineup of speakers from both the EU and the United States.
The DSA’s stated aim is to make the internet safer, but its broad provisions have triggered alarms among those committed to free expression. The regulation’s most contentious feature is its demand that platforms censor material deemed unlawful by individual EU states, a move that could effectively impose the harshest national restrictions across the entire bloc.
“The tide is turning against the DSA,” said Croatian MEP Stephen Bartulica, one of the event’s organizers. “Pressure against the Digital Services Act is quickly building both inside and outside the European Parliament. Concern from the United States, including from their State Department and Congress, over the censorial impact of the DSA should not be ignored by the Commission, the US is a vital ally of Europe. This event will be a crucial part of continuing to build pressure on the DSA. Online censorship in Europe must be rejected. I believe in free speech, not regulated speech.”
Wednesday’s panel follows a sharp rebuke from Washington, where the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor issued a public statement condemning attempts by governments to pressure US-based platforms into censorship. Their post directly criticized EU Commissioner Thierry Breton for targeting X over political content and cited international examples of state-led efforts to quash dissenting views.
Paul Coleman, ADF International’s Executive Director and a seasoned free speech lawyer, emphasized the stakes: “The DSA is one of the most serious threats to online free speech in the digital age. The move towards censorship in Europe through this framework is deeply concerning and must be challenged. We cannot accept a transatlantic divide on free speech, where the US recommits to the protection of this fundamental freedom, while Europe tramples on it. Freedom of expression must be protected and upheld across the globe.”
The regulatory push from Brussels has also attracted attention from US lawmakers. Congressman Jim Jordan, who leads the House Judiciary Committee, recently met with the European Commission’s Henna Virkkunen in Washington, raising further questions about the DSA’s potential overreach. Though Virkkunen later described their conversation as a “candid exchange,” the growing scrutiny from across the Atlantic suggests the debate is far from contained within EU borders.
Among the speakers joining the event is French MEP Virginie Joron, who voiced concern that the DSA is being repurposed to control online narratives. “The DSA has become a tool that elites want to use to control the internet, in a desperate attempt to censor narratives that go against their narrative. This truth is becoming increasingly clear to the world. The new DSA regulation must not become a political tool. This event comes at an important moment and is a crucial step in the fight against the misapplication of this regulation.”
Joron joins Bartulica and Coleman as co-host of the conference, which also features American journalist and author Rod Dreher. Known for his work exploring ideological control in modern institutions, Dreher will lend an international voice to the call for renewed protections for online discourse.
