By William Kennedy —

Freedom of the Approved Press does not mean Freedom of Speech

Elon Musk's social media company X was fined €120 million by EU tech regulators for breaching EU online content rules.

There are 3 reasons given for the fine.

  1. X's paid verification badge (introduced post-2022 acquisition)
    misleads users about account authenticity, as it prioritizes
    subscribers over meaningful identity checks. This enables
    scams, impersonation, and manipulation by malicious actors.
  2. X failed to maintain a searchable, accessible ad library,
    obscuring details on political ads, scams, and targeted content.
    This hinders users and researchers from detecting fraud or
    undue influence.
  3. X obstructed independent researchers' access to public platform
    data, limiting scrutiny of issues like political content, hate
    speech, and algorithmic biases.

It's unclear how X will respond, but it seems the EU is signalling that only particular speech is tolerated or speech from approved authorities.

It's been fun to see the rationalisation undertaken by staunch defenders of the EU (most of whom are on the EU payroll). The defence has primarily sought to blur the lines between freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Take this tweet from an Irish MEP.

Reporters Without Borders is funded by public money from EU states. If you get most of your revenue from the EU, why would you portray them in a negative light? Regardless, blurring the lines between freedom of the press and freedom of speech is a classic tactic used by those whose livelihood depends on people believing the lie.

In Ireland, the ranking is misleading because government parties have members in media circles. The Minister for Justice is a brother of Miriam O'Callaghan, the lead interviewer on Ireland's flagship politics show, Prime Time. The former editor of the Irish Independent is a brother of a Fine Gael TD, and numerous journalists who spent the previous years asking soft questions of our leaders have mysteriously secured 6-figure salaries as media advisors to those leaders. This has happened more than once.

So I laugh when Ireland is ranked highly in any Freedom of Press index. Sure, a journalist could criticise the Irish government, but why ruin your career?

When an outlet finally does hold the government to account, they are accused of being a political asset in the Dail.

The EU is becoming Authoritarian, but a bureaucratic Authoritarian without a figurehead. A Hydra, and to fix it, we won't know which head to cut first, but there is hope. Within our continent lies some of the most significant potential, and once we clear the EU Commission out of the way, Europe will flourish.

Finally, if Europe does have freedom of speech, explain the following:

United Kingdom: Approximately 12,183 arrests under laws like Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 (for grossly offensive, indecent, or menacing messages)

Germany: Roughly 3,500 cases processed for "crimes of talking, posting, and internet"

Poland: Around 300 arrests for online hate speech offences, defamation, or similar posts.

France: 50–100 arrests specifically for social media-related offences like hate speech or incitement.

The EU's paid stooges can justify it however they want, but freedom of approved press is not free speech. Freedom of approved speech is not free speech. Speech is only free when people are allowed to say the very things that you disapprove of.