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FCC chair Carr calls for stop to 'censorship'

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Follows JD Vance denouncing content moderation

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European Commission says allegations completely unfounded

(Add context in paragraphs 4-5, quote from Carr in paragraph 6,

background paragraph 11, edits throughout)

By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, March 3 (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday called out

European Union's content moderation law as incompatible with

America's free speech tradition and warned of a risk that it

will excessively restrict freedom of expression.

"There is some concern that I have with respect to the

approach that Europe is taking with the DSA (EU Digital Services

Act) in particular," Brendan Carr, a Republican appointed to the

FCC helm by President Donald Trump in January, said at the

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

For U.S. tech companies in Europe, Carr said, DSA's approach

was "something that is incompatible with both our free speech

tradition in America and the commitments that these technology

companies have made to a diversity of opinions."

Carr is the second high-ranking U.S. official in recent

months to challenge European regulations. In February, Vice

President JD Vance denounced content moderation at an AI summit

in Paris, calling it "authoritarian censorship."

Trump has made free speech a central theme of his

presidency, signing an executive order on his first day in

office to "restore freedom of speech and end censorship".

Carr echoed this stance, saying, "From President Trump to

me, across the government, we are encouraging our technology

companies to stop the censorship we saw the last couple of

years."

The DSA, which became effective a year ago, is meant to make

the online environment safer and fairer by compelling tech

giants to do more to tackle illegal content including hate

speech and child sexual abuse material.

A European Commission spokesperson pushed back against

Carr's comments, saying the censorship allegations against the

DSA are completely unfounded.

"The aim of our digital legislation, for example the DSA, is

the protection of fundamental rights," spokesperson Thomas

Regnier said. "We all agree on the need to ensure that the

internet is a safe place, as VP Vance put it at the AI Action

Summit in Paris."

While Trump has signed a memorandum warning that his

administration would scrutinise the DSA, Carr last week sent a

mail to U.S. tech companies requesting briefings on how they

planned to reconcile the DSA with America's free speech

tradition.

The companies, including Apple ( AAPL ), Meta,

Alphabet and others, have until Monday to respond.

One possible solution is geofencing - restricting content by

region - to create separate geographical platforms for EU

compliance and the U.S. administration's free speech

requirements.

But Carr said it was unclear whether this approach was

technically or economically feasible.

"If there is an urge in Europe to engage in protectionist

regulations, to give disparate treatment to U.S. technology

companies, the Trump administration has been clear that we are

going to speak up and defend the interests of U.S. businesses,"

he said.