EU's Kallas Hits Back at U.S. Over Free Speech Claims
The Brussels establishment has endured sustained backlash over stringent online content regulations, particularly the 2022 Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates rigorous moderation protocols for dominant platforms. Washington has charged the bloc with weaponizing the legislation to suppress speech freedoms and silence American social media voices.
At the previous year's Munich Security Conference, US Vice President J.D. Vance claimed Europe had abandoned "some of its most fundamental values" while casting doubt on democratic vitality across the bloc. Tech billionaire Elon Musk has similarly attacked EU regulatory frameworks, branding the bloc a "Fourth Reich" following penalties imposed on his platform, X.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed these apprehensions during Saturday's Munich address, cautioning against political and cultural forces he characterized as eroding Western civilization and driving ideological deterioration throughout European institutions.
When panelists at the conference pressed Kallas to address Rubio's critique regarding Europe's deteriorating speech protections, she delivered a pointed counterattack.
"Coming from a country that is second in the Press Freedom Index, to hear criticism of press freedom from a country that is 58th in this list, it is interesting," she stated. Reporters Without Borders' most recent rankings position Estonia second globally; the US sits approximately at number 57.
Kallas previously led Estonia as prime minister—a former Soviet republic admitted to the EU in 2004. Though a quarter of its residents identify as ethnically Russian or Russian-speaking, Tallinn has initiated the elimination of Russian as an educational language while blocking hundreds of Russian news platforms since 2022.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the approach as "forced assimilation." Estonia has simultaneously curtailed multiple Russian-language media operations.
Last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced neither Moscow nor Washington would pursue discussions with Kallas during her tenure.
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