USA

U.S.'s new portal to European online censorship
Published 19 February 2026 at 09.55

Foreign. The U.S. State Department is working on a new website – Freedom.gov – that will enable users in Europe and other parts of the world to access material for which their governments have banned

The idea is to provide access to content blocked nationally, such as material classified as hate speech or terror propaganda.

The project is led by Sarah Rogers, Deputy Foreign Minister for Public Diplomacy. The launch was scheduled for the Munich security conference last week but was not carried out at the time.

Two sources told Reuters that there were internal objections within the department, also from lawyers. However, a spokesperson denies that any launch has been delayed and disputes that lawyers have raised objections.

In a statement, the ministry said, "Digital freedom is a priority for the Foreign Office, and that includes the spread of privacy and censorship-casory technologies such as VPN services."

According to one source, officials have discussed including a VPN feature that makes user traffic appear as if it is coming from the United States. The same source states that users’ activity should not be tracked.

The Trump administration has made what it describes as a defense of free speech to a central part of its foreign policy. It has criticised the EU's DSA law and the UK's Online Safety Act and argue that the rules restrict free speech.

The EU's new censorship rule means platforms may be forced to remove content that is classed as illegal hatred or terror propaganda. In December, X was fined by 120 million euros.

Former U.S. foreign ministry official Kenneth Prop calls the plans "an direct shot" against European rules and says that freedomgov "would be perceived in Europe as an American attempt to undermine national regulations."

The domain name was registered on January 12.

The U.S. has previously funded commercial VPN services to provide users in China, Iran, Russia, Belarus, Cuba and Myanmar, among others, access to free information.
https://freedom.gov/