Americans have watched Big Tech censor conservatives for years under pressure from the Left.
Now a new threat is emerging against speech.
And Marco Rubio warned that Americans could be arrested for exercising free speech for this sick reason.
British police are arresting 30 people a day for social media posts
Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat down for his year-end press conference and what he revealed should send chills down every American's spine.
"Are we going to live in a world where some American puts up a social media post and then gets to some airport somewhere and is arrested?" Rubio asked.
That's already reality for Europeans. In the United Kingdom, police arrest roughly 30 people every single day for "offensive online messages."¹
A British grandmother was arrested for calling a transgender activist "he" on Facebook. Pastor detained for quoting Bible verses about marriage. Citizens dragged from their homes for criticizing mass immigration.
This isn't some dystopian novel. France, Germany, Ireland — the entire continent has turned into one giant speech prison.
And U.S. citizens posting on X, Facebook, or Instagram from American soil could face arrest the moment they step off a plane in London or Paris.
State Department drops the hammer on European censorship regime
The Trump administration saw this coming and fired back hard in July.
"In Europe, thousands are being convicted for the crime of criticizing their own governments," the State Department posted on X. "This Orwellian message won't fool the United States. Censorship is not freedom."²
That statement came after France's UN mission claimed Europeans are "free to speak, not free to spread illegal content."
Read that twice. You're free to speak — as long as the government approves.
Rubio isn't playing games. His top priority is protecting American free speech from foreign censorship laws.
"We're also concerned about the impact that some of their policies are having on our social media platforms," Rubio explained.
He's talking about the financial weapons Europe is deploying against Elon Musk and X. Multi-million dollar fines designed to force American companies to censor Americans.
X won't bend. So Brussels is trying to bankrupt them into submission.
Europe's Digital Services Act is a censorship sledgehammer
The European Commission created something called the Digital Services Act. Sounds boring and bureaucratic, which is exactly how they wanted it to sound.
What it actually does is terrifying.
Tech companies face massive fines if they don't eliminate "illegal content" and "disinformation." But European governments get to define what those terms mean.
Say the wrong thing about immigration policy and you're spreading disinformation. Question government pandemic policies and that's illegal content. Quote Scripture about marriage and suddenly you're guilty of hate speech.
Dr. Adina Portaru from Alliance Defending Freedom International told The Daily Wire that Europe didn't even pretend to care about free speech when writing this law.
"The concerns on free speech are very substantive, and they need a robust response," Portaru said. "The European Commission has not actually conducted a robust review in the sense of actually inviting all voices and all partners to the table."³
She warned the law's reach is unlimited. "The DSA can impact anyone, can impact content creators and influencers and preachers and political dissidents and any kind of content online can be regulated."
Every word you type. Every meme you share. Every political opinion you post. All of it can be criminalized under European law.
And if you're an American who lands at Heathrow with that "offensive" post still on your phone? You're under their jurisdiction.
Groups like Alliance Defending Freedom and Amnesty International — who agree on almost nothing — have been screaming about this for years. That's how bad it's gotten.
Rubio understands America and Europe are supposed to share values like freedom of expression.
Except Europe just decided to become China with better restaurants.
When governments arrest grandmothers for Facebook posts and pastors for reading Scripture, those shared values are dead.
The Trump administration isn't buying the lies. But European bureaucrats aren't backing down. They're accelerating the crackdown because they know the same truth every dictator in history figured out.
Control speech, control thought, control the people.
Here's what should terrify every American. Big Tech operates globally. When Europe forces Facebook and X to build censorship tools, those same tools exist for American accounts.
The infrastructure is already built. The only firewall protecting Americans is the First Amendment and leaders like Rubio willing to fight.
But the moment you step off that plane in Europe? You're on their turf. And they've made it crystal clear — your American rights don't matter there.
¹ Staff, "Roughly 30 People a Day Arrested for Offensive Online Messages in UK," The Times, December 2025.
² U.S. State Department, "Statement on European Censorship," X (Twitter), July 2025.
³ Dr. Adina Portaru, interview with The Daily Wire, November 2025.
