Freedom House Weeks after Trump was banned, the Russian parliament announced plans for a law that would impose fines on companies for blocking users illegally. President Vladimir Putin had already signed a law in December that allows authorities to block platforms for restricting content from Russian state news outlets. That law cited instances in which Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube had “censored” the stateaffiliated outlets RT, RIA Novosti, and Crimea 24. Facebook and Twitter had previously introduced labels for stateaffiliated media groups, identifying RT and RIA Novosti as being closely associated with or under the direct editorial control of the Russian government. Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador similarly lambasted social media companies as “global institutions of censorship” after the ban on Trump, suggesting the creation of a new state-owned service as an alternative. A few weeks later, Mexico’s Senate Majority Leader proposed draft legislation that grants the country’s regulator broad authority to overturn social media companies’ content moderation decisions without judicial oversight, including the power to order the restoration of users’ accounts or content if they were removed. In addition to prohibiting the removal of content not outlined in the bill, the legislation would require platforms to restrict content that the regulator deems to be hateful, false, or threatening to public order. Companies that fail to comply would face fines of up to $4.4 million. In September 2021, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro signed new rules that modify the country’s Marco Civil da Internet, one of the world’s most comprehensive laws protecting human rights online. Social media companies can now restrict users' accounts and content only under very narrow circumstances, for instance if the material involves nudity or violence, or when acting on a court order. The president's decree effectively limits companies’ ability to enforce their own terms of service by curbing health misinformation or falsehoods that sow doubt about the electoral process—both of which Bolsonaro himself has actively disseminated. A more promising focus on transparency and due process The European Union (EU) framework for internet regulation may offer a “third way” between China’s digital authoritarianism and the traditional US emphasis on unrestricted speech and free markets. Two pieces of EU legislation introduced this year—the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act—promise to set some positive rules for the tech sector, although democratic policymakers should remain wary of the negative The executive vice president and competition commissioner of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, and the internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, unveil the EU's new Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act in Brussels, Belgium. Image credit: Alexandros Michailidis/ Straight Out Of The Camera/Bloomberg via Getty Images @freedomhouse freedomhouse.org 15