US to fund free speech activists in Europe – FT

Washington is reportedly building a network of influencers to counter Brussels’ censorship machine

The US State Department will fund “MAGA-aligned think-tanks and charities” in Europe as Washington steps up its fight against censorship in the EU and UK, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

State Department official Sarah Rogers discussed the plan with members of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party during a visit to London last year, three anonymous sources told the newspaper. Rogers, a vocal critic of European “hate speech” legislation, is spearheading the operation and will focus on supporting MAGA-friendly organizations in London, Paris, Berlin, and Brussels, one source said.

Rogers has been in contact with “free speech” activists in the EU and UK, and is targeting the UK’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), they added. Republicans in Washington have accused Brussels of using the DSA to stifle free speech and censor American social media users.

The plan mirrors decades-long initiatives by the US to fund liberal political, media, and civil society organizations in Europe. Many of these initiatives were shut down when US President Donald Trump cut almost all funding for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) last year.

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A State Department spokesperson described the latest funding plan as “a transparent, lawful use of resources to advance US interests and values abroad.” However, the Financial Times noted that it is “likely to cause consternation” among center-left governments in Europe, who fear that the US may actively work to undermine their power.

The inverse of this scenario played out in 2024, when Britain’s center-left Labour government sent activists to the US to campaign against Trump for then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump’s most senior officials have repeatedly criticized the EU and UK over censorship laws such as the Online Safety Act and DSA. Speaking at last year’s Munich Security Conference, Vice President J.D. Vance warned that future US support for Europe would depend on whether governments actually uphold freedom of speech.

The Trump administration’s national security strategy went further, warning that mass immigration, censorship, and single-minded commitment to funding the Ukraine conflict have left the continent at risk of “civilizational erasure.” 

Accordingly, “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations” is a key foreign policy goal of the Trump administration, it states.

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