The US government has launched a new website, Freedom.gov, aimed at allowing users (including those in Europe) to access online content restricted under local laws. According to reports, the portal is administered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, rather than the State Department as initially suggested.
This comes after the Donald Trump administration significantly scaled back the long-running Internet Freedom programme, which for more than a decade funded open-source, privacy-focused tools to help activists and journalists circumvent censorship in countries such as Iran and Myanmar. The new portal differs markedly from those earlier efforts, appearing to centralise traffic through a US government-controlled system rather than support decentralised, privacy-preserving technologies.
Apparently, the website is designed less to counter authoritarian internet shutdowns and more to bypass European regulations such as the EU's Digital Services Act and the UK's Online Safety Act, which target hate speech and illegal content. Nina Jankowicz, a former US official and disinformation expert, described the initiative as "a propaganda tool," questioning why CISA, previously focused on election security and foreign disinformation, would oversee the project.
The launch also unfolds amid escalating tensions between Washington and Brussels over technology regulation. The European Commission has opened investigations into major US tech platforms, including X and Meta, over content moderation and competition concerns. US officials have framed the dispute as a defense of free expression, while European regulators argue their measures are necessary to curb harmful and illegal online content...
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