In his address last week to the World Economic Forum, President Trump emphasized the urgency of safeguarding free speech. After what he says was "years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression," he told the Davos crowd he intended to sign an executive order "to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America."
His declaration is a response to the erosion of America's First Amendment protections caused by government actors who appear increasingly hostile to open dialogue.
The First Amendment guarantees that "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech." This guarantee forms the foundation of our rights to express opinions, debate ideas, and challenge authority without fear of government retribution.
History teaches us that censorship often starts small—a banned book here, a silenced whistleblower there. Left unchecked, it can metastasize into a culture of fear and conformity that stifles innovation, progress, and justice. It can also challenge critical social norms and rights, such as the guarantee of autonomy for parents in making decisions for their own children.
The erosion can also come in the form of "soft censorship"—efforts by Congress or government agencies to suppress speech rights indirectly. Social media platforms, for instance, have faced mounting pressure to police what is deemed "misinformation," and they are facing new restrictions based on the view that information available to children on their platforms that is objectionable or inappropriate should justify restrictions that infringe on parents' rights to make decisions about what their children see, read and watch.
For example, Congress says its latest effort, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), is intended to protect children from harmful content online. However, it will result in disturbing potential for abuse. It gives the Federal Trade Commission new powers over social media platforms to make them assume a "duty of care" for children. This includes orders to "mitigate or prevent" potential harms that are vaguely defined.
This creates an incentive structure that will cause platforms to over-censor rather than risk government penalties. The chilling effect will force platforms to always err on caution, including restricting content that might even remotely be considered "harmful." In addition, KOSA empowers the FTC with broad discretion to define what constitutes harmful content, effectively planting new censorship powers in our federal government.
President Trump's remarks at Davos drew attention to the parallels between KOSA and European laws, such as the Digital Services Act and the UK's Online Safety Act. Both European laws have led to censorship and punitive measures for online posts. Our constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech would seem to make such government intrusions on speech impossible in America, but KOSA is an example of how easily European-style restrictions can seep into our legal framework.
Free speech is not just a constitutional right but a defining feature of American identity. Unlike Europe, where rights often flow from the government to the people, the American system makes rights inherent, flowing from the individual to the government. This revolutionary idea—that government exists to secure pre-existing rights rather than grant them—is a foundational principle differentiating America from the rest of the world.
As parents and leaders of pro-family organizations, our Parents' Rights coalition believes KOSA, in particular, threatens to strip parents of their responsibilities in the name of "online safety." It even allows government-funded studies to include data from children without the knowledge or consent of their parents, and it empowers special interest groups to dictate policies about our children's online access.
President Trump's announcement to other democracies that he intends to roll back censorship in the U.S. sets America apart worldwide. It is essential now that Congress follow up to ensure that censorship has no place in our government and no roots that will allow it to grow in our culture.
Jeff Davis is a coalition partner with Parents Matter.
