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The US has quietly launched a brand new web site, freedom.gov, aimed toward permitting Europeans to bypass native content material restrictions and entry materials blocked below regional legal guidelines. The event was reported by The Guardian, and critics are already labeling the portal a authorities backed propaganda device.
The positioning seems to be administered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company, a department of the Division of Homeland Safety. It promotes the message “Data is energy. Reclaim your human proper to free expression. Prepare,” and is designed to assist customers circumvent authorities content material controls.
The launch follows a serious rollback of the State Division’s lengthy working Web Freedom program. That initiative invested greater than $500 million over a decade in grassroots teams and digital rights specialists constructing open supply, privateness centered instruments to bypass censorship in nations comparable to Myanmar, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Critics say the main focus shifts from censorship to regulation
Critics argue the brand new platform marks a departure from that strategy. As a substitute of supporting decentralized, auditable instruments, freedom.gov seems to route site visitors by a centralized system managed by a US company.
Andrew Ford Lyons, an unbiased advisor who beforehand labored on US web freedom initiatives, stated earlier instruments have been open supply and privateness preserving. He stated they have been constructed by technologists worldwide and tailor-made to particular censorship regimes fairly than managed instantly by Washington.
Against this, he described freedom.gov as concentrating site visitors by a US federal company fairly than unbiased initiatives. The controversy comes amid Copilot electronic mail entry considerations which have intensified scrutiny round information management and transparency.
The portal shouldn’t be aimed toward broad web shutdowns like these seen in China or Iran. As a substitute, it targets European content material restrictions, together with guidelines below the Digital Providers Act and the UK’s On-line Security Act.
Nina Jankowicz, a former US disinformation official, warned that bypassing such restrictions might expose customers to hate speech, pornography, and unlawful materials. She additionally questioned why CISA, which beforehand centered on defending election infrastructure and countering overseas disinformation, would oversee the platform.
The rollout comes amid wider tensions between the Trump administration and the European Union over know-how regulation. The European Fee has launched investigations into main US tech platforms, and a Ukraine sanctions showdown has additional sophisticated transatlantic political dynamics.
Final yr, Vice President JD Vance criticized European media regulation and content material moderation insurance policies on the Munich Safety Convention. A State Division spokesperson informed Reuters the US doesn’t function a Europe particular censorship circumvention program, however stated digital freedom and instruments comparable to VPNs stay a precedence.
