Germany Emerges as the EU's Foremost Advocate of Censorship

The Brownstone Institute has reported that X, now recognized as a “free speech platform,” discloses information about its users to the governments of EU member states. This information pertains not only to illegal speech, which is covered by numerous “speech crimes” in EU countries' national legislation, but also to legal speech that is considered “harmful.”

The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA)

The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is innovative in that it obligates platforms to implement “content moderation” against not just illegal content, but also potentially harmful content such as “disinformation.” In the period covered in X’s most recent “Transparency Report” to the EU on its “content moderation” efforts, almost 90% of requests for information on the purveyors of supposedly “illegal or harmful speech” came from Germany alone.

Germany's Role in Content Moderation

X also acts against posts or accounts for “illegal or harmful speech” that is reported to it by EU member states or the European Commission. Such action may involve deletion or geo-blocking (“withholding”) of content. However, as indicated in the report, it can also involve various forms of “visibility filtering” or restricting engagement. Germany is the leader in this regard, having submitted 42% of all the reports to X on “illegal or harmful speech” and almost 50% of the reports from member states.

Germany's Influence on Civic Discourse or Elections

Germany submitted the most reports on content entailing “negative effects on civic discourse or elections,” another category of speech that is not illegal per se but is considered “harmful” enough under the DSA regime to require suppression. Germany submitted well over half of all such reports and over 60% of the reports from member states.

English Language Content Moderation

It's worth noting that the majority of these reports and the related “enforcement actions” likely involve English-language content. This is inferred from the fact that almost 90% of X’s “content moderation team” consists of English speakers. However, it raises the question of why Germany or the EU should have any jurisdiction over English-language discourse, given that Germans are not typically native English speakers and only 1.5% of the total EU population has English as their mother tongue.

Germany as the Censorship Champion

Two things are very clear from X’s “Transparency Report.” Firstly, Elon Musk’s “free speech platform” is not really that, and is in fact devoting significant resources, both in terms of “trained” human censors and programming, to comply with the EU’s censorship regime. Secondly, Germany is the EU’s — and likely the world’s — undisputed, online censorship champion.

Enforcement Actions

There were 226,350 “enforcement actions” taken by X in response to reports from EU member states or the EU Commission in the reporting period covering barely more than three months. This does not include the “enforcement actions” taken proactively by X in accordance with its own DSA-compatible terms of service and rules.

EU's Case Against X

The EU’s case against X, as it currently stands, has nothing to do with insufficient “content moderation” — or, in other words, censorship — but merely concerns other, more arcane, aspects of the DSA. The original proceedings opened against X did involve “content moderation” and could even have had a positive impact on freedom of speech, since X was ostensibly being investigated not for failing to remove or suppress user content, but rather for failing to inform users about such “content moderation decisions” or, in other words, shadowbanning. However, this aspect has been dropped from the investigation.

Bottom Line

The reality is that no online platform of any size can remain on the EU market and be a “free speech platform.” The DSA makes this impossible. This raises questions about the balance between freedom of speech and the need to moderate harmful content. What are your thoughts on this matter? Feel free to share this article with your friends and discuss. Don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is available every day at 6pm.