Congress Gears Up to Pressure Europe on Digital Regulations

According to the committee’s website, the hearing will focus on “how European online censorship laws… threaten Americans’ right to speak freely online in the United States.” It singles out the UK’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act. Also in the committee’s sites is “how the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC) and the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) target American companies and hurt innovation.”

The website lists UK Member of Parliament Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform Party and an ally of U.S. conservatives, as a confirmed witness. It also lists former Member of the European Parliament commissioner Terry Breton, one of the chief architects of the EU digital laws, as an “invited witness.”

According to Euractive Breton had not responded to a request for comment as of Wednesday.

The hearing comes as President Trump has renewed his criticism of the Europe’s digital regulations, casting a shadow over the recently released “joint statement” by the EU and U.S. on a framework trade agreement. The Trump administration had pressed for changes to the DSA to be included in the agreement, but the EU objected and the changes the U.S. sought were not part of the deal. The joint statement referred only vaguely to a commitment “to address unjustified digital trade barriers.”

Related: EU Rejects Trump’s Claims of Bias in Digital Services Rules

In a post on his Truth Social platform this week, however, Trump again took aim at the regulations and threatened additional tariffs above the 15% rate agreed to with the EU in the framework. “With this TRUTH, I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A.,” he wrote.

Asked about the comments and the U.S. House hearing at a briefing for reporters Thursday, European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier declined to address the hearing specifically, per Euractive, but said, “These censorship allegations are nonsense. They are completely unfounded and they are completely wrong.”

Apart from the comments directed at the EU, pressure from Washington was also instrumental in getting the UK to back down last week from its demand that Apple provide it a “backdoor,” that would enable access to encrypted data on U.S. citizens. The Trump administration took credit for the reversal in a post on X by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Perhaps emboldened by that turnaround, Apple this week warned the UK that “EU-style rules” proposed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) there are “bad for users and bad for developers,” according to the BBC. The proposed rules are intended to open up technology markets the CMA claims are dominated by Apple and Google and make it easier for smaller companies to compete. Apple warned, however, that similar laws in the EU had led to some iPhone features being delayed for users there and that the same could happen in the UK.