Virkkunen said the Digital Services Act (DSA) is “content-agnostic” and that Brussels and national regulators “have no power to moderate content or to impose any specific approach to moderation.” Rules defining unlawful speech or illegal content, such as child abuse material, are outlined in separate EU or national legislation.
She argued, on the contrary, that the law “guarantees” free speech since platforms must be transparent about how they handle content.
Jordan had pressed Virkkunen in January to address “serious concerns with how the DSA’s censorship provisions affect free speech in the United States.”
He warned that the DSA, which only applies in the EU, “may limit or restrict Americans’ constitutionally protected speech in the United States.”
But Virkkunen said the law cannot be used to press platforms to restrict lawful speech in the U.S. or elsewhere.
“This is categorically not the case,” she said, adding that the DSA “applies exclusively within the European Union.”