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Vice President JD Vance warned Europe not to head down the “dark path” of censorship, as he arrived in the UK for diplomatic talks with British Foreign Minister David Lammy.
In a sit-down with journalists at the Foreign Minister’s country residence of Chevening, Vance reiterated his concern for freedom of speech in Europe, and compared the continent’s current plight to that of America under Joe Biden.
“I’ve raised concerns about free speech in the United States of America. I think the entire collective West, the transatlantic relationship, our NATO allies, certainly the United States under the Biden administration, got a little too comfortable with censoring rather than engaging with a diverse array of opinions. So that’s been my view.”
He continued with reference to his incendiary speech at the Munich Security Conference in March, during which he blasted Europe’s elite for abandoning the values that made Europe great, and said the greatest threat to Europe today is not an external enemy, but an enemy within. His comments at the conference were greeted with anger and consternation by European politicians, technocrats and the media, all of whom attempted to portray them as a “stab in the back.”
“Obviously, I’ve raised some criticism and concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic,” Vance added.
“But the thing that I’d say to the people of England or anybody else, to David [Lammy], is many of the things that I worry most about were happening in the United States from 2020 to 2024.
“I just don’t want other countries to follow us down what I think was a very dark path under the Biden administration.”
The Vice President’s comments come just weeks after it was revealed that X was censoring footage from anti-migration protests in the UK, as the country’s new “Online Safety Act” came into force.
The Act, passed by the previous Conservative government, was intended to prevent children from being exposed to pornography and graphic content on the internet.
British users shared screenshots of messages they received when they tried to access footage of anti-migration protests that began when an Ethiopian migrant sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.
British users received the following message: “Due to local laws, we are temporarily restricting access to this content until X estimates your age.”
Before the introduction of the Online Safety Act, X stated that it would use various methods, including “email-based estimation” to assess whether a user is likely to be an adult or not.
The Online Safety Act mandates fines of £18 million or up to 10% of a company’s turnover if a company violates the Act.
In a statement, the UK-based Free Speech Union said, “Our fears appear to have been vindicated on the very first day of the Online Safety Act’s enactment.
“If you have a standard X account in the UK—presumably the majority of British users—it appears that you may not be able to see any protest footage that contains violence. We’re aware of one censored post that shows an arrest being made.
“We warned repeatedly about how censorious this piece of legislation would be.”
