The Biden era’s infamous “disinformation” czar is urging the European Union to resist the Trump administration’s agenda on online censorship and other key issues.
Jankowicz testified before the European Parliament earlier this week at a hearing about Russian hybrid threats and painted a gloomy picture of the Trump administration’s opposition to online speech suppression and advocacy for U.S. tech companies.
“The United States has now become the largest lobbyist for these multibillion dollar [tech] corporations and is harassing any nation or body that aims to conduct oversight or require transparency of them. Neither Washington nor the social media platforms it has captured are interested in preserving democracy. They are interested in preserving their power and hoarding profits,” Jankowicz said.
With that landscape in mind, Jankowicz called upon the European Union to hold firm with its tech regulation package, the Digital Services Act, that strongly pressures social media companies into restricting speech under the guise of “hate speech” and “disinformation.” She also encouraged the EU to continue backing Ukraine’s war effort against Russia even if the Trump administration no longer does.
“Before I describe the details of Russia’s recent online influence campaigns, I would like to call upon you stand firm against another autocracy: the United States of America,” Jankowicz pleaded.
“The Trump administration is undoubtedly preparing a pressure campaign to force EU institutions to roll back regulation like the DSA, to end support for Ukraine, to stop holding Russia to account. Do not capitulate. Hold the line. Doing so is the clearest signal the European Union could send to Russia and other adversaries that it will not stop fighting to preserve democracy around the world.”
She condemned the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the “disinformation” complex from within the federal government, specifically blasting Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “gleefully” announcing his plan to shutter the State Department’s online censorship office.
Rubio said last week he is closing the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office, previously known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC), because of its work pressuring social media platforms to suppress speech. In a similar manner, the FBI closed its Foreign Influence Task Force because of its centrality to the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story and other online speech.
Jankowicz previously spread disinformation about the materials on Hunter Biden’s laptop and amplified false claims of collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. She has not retracted any of her past claims, a reflection of her record of partisanship on behalf of the Democratic Party.
Jankowicz launched the American Sunlight Project last year to continue advocating for online speech restrictions after registering as a foreign agent to work for a think tank partially-funded by the U.K. government.
She rose to prominence in 2022 when the Biden administration named her chief of the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board. The board was launched in April 2022 and Jankowicz resigned a month later amid an onslaught of criticism from conservatives and civil libertarians concerned about its ramifications for free speech. The DHS determined in August the board was not necessary and dissolved it because it already had offices devoted to countering foreign disinformation.