The second Trump administration has repeatedly complained about Europe's tech laws targeting Silicon Valley's finest, but now its antipathy is going into overdrive.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has [1]reportedly ordered US diplomats to whip up opposition to the EU's Digital Services Act, the rulebook the bloc introduced in 2023 to govern how platforms handle disinformation and other online ills.

The DSA has been in the Trump administration's sights at least since February, when Vice President JD Vance shocked European officials with a diatribe about online censorship. "Dismissing people, dismissing their concerns… is the most surefire way to destroy democracy," he [2]thundered .

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The issue became particularly heated in recent weeks, with the [4]Financial Times reporting the European Commission had paused its flagship DSA enforcement case against Elon Musk's X to avoid derailing trade negotiations with the US, and with the State Department [5]slamming the DSA as "Orwellian."

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Rubio is now understood to have instructed his underlings in Europe to regularly harangue local governments and regulators about the DSA and how much compliance costs American companies. "[Diplomats] should focus efforts to build host government and other stakeholder support to repeal and/or amend the DSA or related EU or national laws restricting expression online," Reuters claimed today.

Although the DSA was reportedly an elephant in the room during those recent US-EU trade talks, the EU's digital rules didn't end up playing any part in the resulting framework deal that was announced late July. This fact was [8]hailed as the one clear win for Europe in an agreement that otherwise favored Washington. But it seems clear the Trump administration is not giving up.

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The State Department did not reply to a request for comment from The Register , but the Commission was defiant.

"As we have said many times and I now repeat: our EU regulations and standards were never up for discussion, and this will not change," a spokesperson told us.

[10]X tells the French police 'non' to its request for algorithmic data

[11]Europe slams online tat bazaar AliExpress for dodging obligation to stop dodgy traders

[12]US to deny visas to foreign officials it says 'censor' social media

[13]X marks the drop for European users

Especially given that the US-EU trade agreement still hasn't been finalized, let alone ratified, the real test of that defiance will be what happens next with DSA enforcement.

The X case, which was supposed to be wrapped up before the summer recess, is widely expected to culminate in a fine for the platform's misdeeds — specifically, letting people buy blue ticks to fool others about their identity, and failing to stick to the DSA's transparency requirements.

Like X, China's TikTok and Temu have been provisionally found to have broken the DSA. Meta's Instagram and Facebook are also under investigation, as are various adult platforms such as Stripchat and Pornhub. ®

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[1] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/rubio-orders-us-diplomats-launch-lobbying-blitz-against-europes-tech-law-2025-08-07/

[2] https://www.politico.eu/article/us-vice-president-jd-vance-attack-europe-migration-free-speech/

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aJUh9DAeBIxAZGLNCQR8sQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[4] https://www.ft.com/content/8f38514b-3265-496e-91e2-f8a44daa0ab6

[5] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/22/state-department-attacks-europe-free-speech-00468916

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJUh9DAeBIxAZGLNCQR8sQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJUh9DAeBIxAZGLNCQR8sQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://nixons.substack.com/p/europes-surrender

[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJUh9DAeBIxAZGLNCQR8sQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/21/x_french_police/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/19/ec_aliexpress_investigation_finds_failings/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/29/us_to_deny_visas_social_media/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/01/x_accounts_europe_drop/

[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/