BUDAPEST, Hungary – On Wednesday morning, the group EU-U.S. Forum held its spring conference and – with former Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller alongside – took aim at the rise of government censorship both in the United States and the European Union, an issue that’s also central to our mission here at the Media Research Center.
They encouraged attendees to cherish free speech rights in America as well as “help support and build the ecosystem of folks who are challenging” legacy media to prevent things like the liberal media’s “outright collusion” with Big Tech to swing the 2020 election from ever happening again.
EU-US Forum board member and former Trump White House domestic policy official Joe Grogan led into the first of many discussions on free speech by acknowledging “this Biden era and…the tail end of the Trump administration was a really dark time for free speech” with “a lot of censorship on the part of big media.”
He then asked Miller if President Trump will continue to “make free speech a critical issue…and can we, and those of us who value free speech, hope to see progress” in the face of what’s become criminal prosecutions of basic thought in Europe.
Miller cut to the chase with a fun visual aid in this past week’s (European) edition of The Economist and even they’ve come to realize “free speech is a massively big deal here in the EU, as well as even in the UK”:
After citing two terrifying examples of European censorship (including a terrifying demand from UK law enforcement that they have backdoor access to the iCloud accounts for all Apple users worldwide), he said they underscore the blessing it is to be an American and have a country where free speech is the First Amendment in our Constitution:
It was here that he drove home the consequences of inaction when fighting for free speech, no matter your country:
Given President Trump’s unparalleled ability to go around the media, EU-US Forum board member and former Trump State Department official Matt Mowers asked Miller if he could share any advice with Europeans about “get[ting] your message directly to voters…to try to breakthrough and try to ensure that there’s conservative victories on both sides.”
In just over three and a half minutes, Miller called on not only right-of-center individuals but also anyone who doesn’t “consider yourself overtly partisan, but just…loves free speech…to help support and build the ecosystem of folks who are challenging the authority or the traditional media constructs.”
Having dubbed this his “life coach aspect of the free speech debate,” Miller shared an experience with arguably Germany’s biggest news outlet as another reason to “support and build-up” alternative media that are “truth tellers, the people who are able to make…the tough commentary” as the health of our western civilization rests on free speech and diversity of opinion (click “expand”):
It’s not just simply a matter of the – the traditional left-of-center news outlets even when you look at. Many of the so-called center or so-called center-right publications. Take Bild, for example, in Germany. People outside of Germany or I’d say people in the United States typically think of Bild as being the one more center right or free speech friendly outlet, not at all. I mean Axel Springer, really they’re some bad people and what they’re the ones who now own Politico in the United States. I’ll tell you when I was writing the social media platform, we tried to advertise with Bild and again, Germany I believe is our 4th or 5th biggest market and in our – we had a simple platform of free speech. There was – obviously, we did not platform or allow for say hate speech or things were crossed into – things that were that everybody would find objectionable, but to the folks at Axel Springer’s Bild, they said no we’re not interested in working with you. You can’t advertise with us. Well, what I found out later is their CEO was narced out by one of their senior executives who said nope, they view you as a Trump guy, which I mean obviously I am a Trump guy, but they said simply because of that they don’t want any advertising from you. They don’t want to promote any aspect of free speech. So, when you think of the Politico in the United States, when you think of Axel Springer, they’re the exact same people who would not allow say a free – for example, a free speech platform to advertise with them simply because they do not actually support free speech.
So, what we need to do, and I say this is, this is kind of my life coach aspect of the free speech debate, is to make sure that we’re supporting and building on folks who are – when I say alternative media I mean people outside of the traditional news means. We have to build them up we need to support them. I know we have folks here from everything from Human Events, Daily Wire, Washington Reporter. We have a number of in the United States other outlets including – whether it be Breitbart, which I have some very good friends or National Pulse, which is another great website run by Raheem Kassam – Steve Bannon’s War Room, and of course, there are many more outlets that are in the – the EU and the UK. Support and build up these outlets as truth tellers, the people who are able to make some of the – the some of the tough commentary here because there has to be a diversity of opinion. The far-left political viewpoint is represented every day in the mainstream media. There needs to be a balance. People need to realize there are additional perspectives and it’s incumbent upon all of us, everyone who’s here, everyone who believes in free speech to make sure that we platform and build up these alternative channels because what we find out is that for the regular public. That’s where the actual viewpoint is. People looking people are tired of the unchecked mass migration. They’re tired of the – the overlords in Brussels telling the sovereign nations of the EU what they can and can’t do, and people say, I – I didn’t vote for you. I didn’t elect you, but you’re – you’re telling us what’s in place and likewise in the United States when people look at the mainstream media and say, who are you to shove this down our throats?
Mowers followed up, allowing both he and Miller to correct pulling on the thread of new media providing a sense of belonging for one’s policy views:
At one point, Miller said “there’s a – a real lack of respect for sovereignty and people in their respective countries” and “the whole issue of sovereignty to many in Brussels seems to be limited to the Champions League that, well, yes, you can be proud of who you are when it’s football season.”
“Well, guess what? it goes a lot more than that. It goes to cultural identity, goes to cultural heritage. We have countries that have been around for in their current form hundreds of years, in various forms for well over 1000 years, and people should be able to have pride and respect for their own heritage and their own culture and quite frankly, even their – their own religion,” he added.
Prior to this media bias discussion, Miller also ripped the unelected, “unaccountable” EU bureaucrats for their fundamental flaw of disrespecting the will of individual member countries and their penchant for “snuff[ing] out any aspect of dissension or free speech” from “sovereignty-loving people.”
Grogan got his own shots in at the EU’s authoritarian Digital Markets Act (which our Free Speech America team has chronicled like no one else in conservative media and actually testified last week against a similar bill, the Digital Services Act) and their bullying of American tech companies (click “expand”):
GROGAN: Let’s – let’s beat up on Brussels a little bit more shall we? The Digital Markets Act, so this has been used to go after both Apple and Meta, two huge American companies that dominate their – their spaces. I think Apple was fined over 500 million and – and Meta over 200 million. Is this – do you see this as sort of a – a bargaining chip that the EU is exploiting in the trade talks, or is this – is this transcend that as a as a threat to American dominance in this space? And do you see it’s – do you see it linked to the speech issue or should, how should Americans view it? How should people who wanna defend their homegrown companies regardless of what member state they are in the EU?
MILLER: Yeah. Another great question because I see the assault on the – the major – not just social media, but the digital advertising companies is – it’s partly – it’s a trade tool. It’s part of a –a brushback pitch on that, but I also think it’s a – intentional and direct effort to try to suppress free speech. It’s just another way for Brussels to control the way that people communicate, what issues they’re actually allowed to comment on and effectively what they would like, and I’m saying that the EU gover – or the – the leaders, the people actually work there and put the – the rules and procedures into an actual – implemental – in an actual implemented policy, they want complete government control over this and it’s quite horrific what we see the EU doing and their assault on American tech companies, and I think that this is a – you’re gonna see the United States and President Trump make this a very big deal as far as we move along in trade negotiations.
Miller also made clear to the audience that Americans can and should still believe “the EU are very important partners” and being brutally honest with them like the second Trump administration has shouldn’t be construed as a loathing of Europe.
Rather, in essence, they’re calling many of their oldest allies to its highest ordeals from when the two weathered the storms of two world wars and the Cold War:
After discussing NATO spending, the three closed with their final thoughts, including Miller calling on attendees to “make your voice heard” in the fight for western civilization and free speech:
To see the relevant transcript from the EU-US Forum event on May 28, click here.
