House Judiciary Invites Nigel Farage to Hearing on European Tech Laws Impacting U.S. Free Speech

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has invited British politician Nigel Farage to testify at a Capitol Hill hearing titled "Europe’s Threat to American Speech and Innovation," scheduled for September 3. The hearing will focus on how European online censorship laws, specifically the United Kingdom's Online Safety Act (OSA) and the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), threaten free speech rights for Americans online and harm U.S. tech companies by targeting them through regulatory measures like the UK's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act and the EU's Digital Markets Act. Farage has been a vocal critic of the UK’s Online Safety Act, arguing it restricts free speech and alters user content feeds, while the Trump administration has threatened tariffs and sanctions against countries enforcing digital taxes and discriminatory tech regulations. The State Department and lawmakers, including Jordan, are actively pushing back against these laws, viewing them as harmful to American innovation and technological leadership. The UK’s OSA, aimed at protecting users from harmful content, has introduced stringent age verification requirements that have already affected U.S. platforms like Reddit and X, compelling compliance with content restrictions. This issue has become a significant point of contention in U.S.-European relations, with Republicans framing it as a defense of free speech against government and Big Tech censorship.