Ideas

Europe’s Free-Speech Problem

Republicans are right to criticize Europe for attacking free expression, even if that makes them hypocritical.

First published in The Atlantic on August 19, 2025

by Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic
August 21, 2025 | reading time: 11 Min.
American officials are waging a multifront attack on Europe’s approach to free speech. This month, a congressional delegation traveled to Dublin, Brussels, and London to probe and decry European regulations on digital speech. A State Department human-rights assessment issued last week pointed to objectionable “restrictions on freedom of expression” in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. All of this follows Vice President J. D. Vance’s speech in February at the Munich Security Conference, where he accused European leaders of retreating from the continent’s “most fundamental values,” including free expression..

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