Washington is building and funding a network of influencers to counter the Brussels censorship machine.

The US State Department will provide funding to ’MAGA-aligned think-tanks and charities’ in Europe. Washington is intensifying its fight against censorship in the EU and UK.

State Department official Sarah Rogers discussed the plan during a visit to London last year. She met with members of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. Three anonymous sources told the newspaper about this discussion.

Rogers has been in contact with free speech advocates in the EU and UK.

She is targeting the UK’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). 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 US initiatives to fund liberal political, media, and civil society organisations in Europe.

A State Department spokesperson described the latest funding plan as a transparent, lawful use of resources. It aims to advance US interests and values abroad. 

The Financial Times noted that it is likely to cause consternation among liberal regimes in the UK.

It may also affect those in Europe. The ruling elite fear that the US may actively work to undermine their power.

Payback time: The opposite of this scenario played out in 2024. Britain’s center-left Labour government sent activists to the US. They campaigned against Trump on behalf of then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump’s most senior officials have repeatedly criticized the EU and UK. They have expressed concerns 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. It warned that mass immigration, censorship, and single-minded commitment to funding the Ukraine conflict have left the continent at risk. This poses a threat of civilizational erasure. 

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

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