Europe, Get Off Our Speech Lawn

The European Union deigns to lecture America on free expression

European Commissioner Thierry Breton

The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has sent letters to Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Elon Musk at X, demanding they comply with the EU’s sweeping new Internet regulation, the Digital Services Act.

Both Breton letters contained passages complaining of platform failure to remove “illegal content,” a concept that is surely coming to the U.S. soon, if we don’t put up a fight. From the letter to Zuckerberg:

I would ask that you be very vigilant to ensure strict compliance with DSA rules on terms of service, on the requirement of timely, diligent, and objective action following notices of illegal content in the EU, and on the need for proportionate and effective mitigation measures.

The equivalent line in the Musk letter:

When you receive notices of illegal content in the EU, you must be timely, diligent, and effective in taking action and removing the relevant content when warranted. We have, from qualified services, reports of potentially illegal content circulating on your service.

I don’t think it’s enough for Zuckerberg and Musk to reject Breton. I think they should hire Louis C.K. and have him flown to Brussels to tell Breton in person, American-style, to eat a bag of d—: