Jim Jordan report accuses EU of censoring American speech through tech companies

WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee chaired by Ohio’s Jim Jordan on Tuesday released a 160-page interim report that accuses European Union regulators of conducting a decade-long campaign to censor political speech worldwide, including content posted by Americans in the United States.

“For more than a year, the Committee has been warning that European censorship laws threaten U.S. free speech online,” said a social media statement from the Champaign County Republican. “Now, we have proof: Big Tech is censoring Americans’ speech in the U.S., including true information, to comply with Europe’s far-reaching Digital Services Act.”

The report focuses on the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which took effect in 2023, claiming it serves as the “culmination” of European efforts to control online discourse that began around 2015. Jordan’s committee obtained the documents through subpoenas issued to ten major technology companies, including Meta, Google, TikTok, and X.

“The European Commission has intentionally pressured technology companies to change their global content moderation policies, and deliberately targeted American speech and elections,” the report states. “The European Commission’s extraterritorial actions directly infringe on American sovereignty.”

The report charges that EU officials pressured platforms to censor content related to COVID-19 vaccines, the war in Ukraine, transgender issues, and other topics. Internal documents show that in 2024, TikTok revised its global Community Guidelines specifically to “comply with the Digital Services Act,” according to the report.

Those changes included censoring “coded statements” that “normalize inequitable treatment,” content “misrepresenting authoritative information,” and “media presented out of context,” the report says. (page 10-11)

It described the imposed standards as “inherently subjective and easily weaponized against the European Commission’s political opposition.”

“To put it plainly, an EU law caused one of the world’s largest social media platforms to censor true information in the United States and around the world,” the report says.

Cleveland.com has reached out to European Union representatives for comment on the report’s allegations.

The European Commission has previously defended the DSA as necessary to protect users from harmful content and has stated that it applies only within the EU. However, the report argues that because major platforms use global content moderation policies rather than country-specific rules, European regulations effectively control speech worldwide.

Jordan has been investigating European technology regulations since early 2025, when he issued subpoenas to major tech companies. In July 2025, he traveled to Europe with a bipartisan delegation to discuss these concerns with EU officials, including Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s executive vice president for technological sovereignty, security, and democracy.