Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers on dismantling the "Censorship Industrial Complex"

The conversation centers on the tension between American free speech standards and increasing censorship and regulation in Europe, particularly concerning online platforms. Sarah Rogers, the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy at the State Department, explains the differences between American and European approaches to speech, highlighting the UK's Online Safety Act and the EU's Digital Services Act. These regulations, intended to combat hate speech and disinformation, lead to scenarios where individuals are arrested for speech acts that would be legal in the U.S. The discussion covers the potential for these regulations to become a "censorship tariff" on American tech companies and the role of NGOs in pushing for stricter content moderation. Examples include the fining of X (formerly Twitter) and the case of a woman sentenced for an anti-migration tweet.