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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Dan Milmo Global technology editor

Visa ban for European critics of online harm is first shot in US free speech war

Elon Musk in a suit, with no tie, steepling his hands
Elon Musk, the chief executive of X and Tesla, tried to take the Center for Countering Digital Hate to court but the case was thrown out last year. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

For Maga politicians, European tech regulation hits hard in two areas: at the economic interests of Silicon Valley and at their view of free speech.

The action against five Europeans who are taking on harmful content and the platforms that host it has had an inevitable feel to it, given the increasingly vociferous reactions to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA). Both pieces of legislation require social media firms to protect users or face the threat of sizeable fines. Indeed, Elon Musk’s X has been fined €120m (£105m) this month for breaching the DSA.

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