Some U.S. politicians have recently characterized European platform and social media regulation laws as “censorship” of speech in the U.S. If this claim were true, it would be a very big deal. As someone with a twenty-year history of resisting cross-border Internet speech suppression demands, I would be up in arms.

It isn’t true, though. This blog post explains why. It starts with a big picture overview of how Internet lawyers and online platforms deal with varying national speech laws. Then it reviews the EU law currently at the center of this controversy, the Digital Services Act (DSA). Finally, it goes over some actual examples of real or attempted cross-border speech restrictions. Super wonks might find nothing new in this summary, but new-comers to cross-border speech regulation will likely find it a helpful touchstone and guide. If you’re neither though, all you really need to know is this: Nothing about the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) requires platforms to change the speech that American users can see and share online.