Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, is inviting Reform U.K. party leader Nigel Farage to a Capitol Hill hearing next week regarding European tech laws that pose “threats” to American free speech.
The Judiciary Committee announced the hearing on Wednesday, one week ahead of its scheduled date.
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The Sept. 3 hearing “will highlight how European online censorship laws-specifically the United Kingdom’s (UK) Online Safety Act (OSA) and the European Union’s (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA)-threaten Americans’ right to speak freely online in the United States,” the committee said in a statement. “Additionally, it will explain how the U.K.’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC) and the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) target American companies and hurt innovation.”
Farage has been critical of the United Kingdom’s online safety law, which seeks to protect children and other users from harmful content. But in doing so, he argues, it poses a threat to user privacy and restricts free speech. The act was enacted last month as Jordan led a delegation of congressmen to the United Kingdom to meet with Farage.
The Judiciary Committee also invited former European Commissioner Thierry Breton to the hearing, with the possibility of more witnesses joining.
The announcement comes after President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on countries that don’t remove their digital taxes or similar regulations that unfairly handicap tech companies from the United States.
“I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
“America, and American Technology Companies, are neither the ‘piggy bank’ nor the ‘doormat’ of the World any longer,” he added. “Show respect to America and our amazing Tech Companies, or consider the consequences!”
It remains to be seen how the threatened tariffs will apply to the European Union, which has numerous digital taxes and tech regulations that disproportionately affect American companies.
The European laws are meant to make the digital marketplace fairer and more competitive, like the Digital Markets Act, or address content moderation as the Digital Services Act does. However, in recent months, the White House has pressured the EU to deregulate its tech sector over concerns that U.S. tech companies operating in the 27-member bloc face undue financial burden from the laws.
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The Computer and Communications Industry Association Research Center recently published a study that found EU tech regulations cost U.S. companies between $38.9 billion and $97.6 billion annually. A separate report by Public Policy Solutions detailed how the EU policies “disadvantage” U.S. tech companies and “hamstring” innovation.
Also at play is the EU’s negotiated trade deal with the U.S., which reduces Trump’s tariffs on most goods imported from the EU and eliminates EU tariffs on all American goods. An EU official said on Wednesday that the trade deal would have to be reviewed if Trump continued threatening to impose tariffs on tech regulations.