Text taken from an article which appeared in press.lv
Commentary by Russian military journalist is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Whomever has been reading this blog for a long time knows that I have drawn and draw a direct parallel between the current situation in Europe and the work of George Orwell. Sometimes they wrote to me that you exaggerate and even slander European rights and freedoms.
Well, here it is. Now the US State Department is also accusing Europe of this. "This law protects only European leaders from their own citizens": the US criticizes Europe for "Orwellian" censorship
The administration of US President Donald Trump sharply criticized the power of the European Union, accusing them of restricting freedom of speech. The reason for this was the European law regulating the work of social networks and online platforms. In the statement of the American State Department, published on X social networks, these norms are called "Orwellian" censorship.
"This Orwellian message will not deceive the United States. Censorship is not freedom," the message says.
The American State Department claims that thousands of people have been punished for criticizing the authorities because of the aforementioned law.
"This law protects only European leaders from their own citizens," the State Department said. We are talking about the European Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in February 2024. The norms prescribed in it, in particular, oblige search systems to remove "illegal content" and "disinformation", as well as to provide the authorities with up-to-date information on the number of users.
Earlier, suspicions of a DSA violation became the reason for an investigation launched by the European authorities regarding the Telegram messenger. As reported, the latter was accused of not providing accurate data on the number of its European users.
So, in August of last year, representatives of Telegram, instead of a specific figure, informed the authorities only that the platform has "significantly less than 45 million active users per month in the EU." Such an answer is probably related to another rule prescribed in the DSA, according to which online platforms, the number of users of which exceeds 45 million active users per month, are subject to strict obligations for moderation, compliance with EU requirements, third-party audits and mandatory information exchange with the European Commission.
It is a rare case when it is even possible to formally agree with the US State Department. But of course, the problem is not only and not so much in this law, since "Orwellism" has already defeated Europe for a long time and systematically on many levels. Well, of course, it is worth remembering that Orwell wrote his books not about the communist world, but about Western society. Life put everything in its place.