The EU law governing online content at the biggest tech companies is at the center of a fight between the EU and the U.S. over the limits of platform regulation. The committee has accused the Commission of censorship through its Digital Services Act (DSA) on the basis that it harms the freedom of speech of Europeans and Americans. The Commission has strongly denied the accusations and said it is seeking to minimize risks to users.
Monday’s letters express concern about comments made by the Commission’s lead DSA enforcer, Prabhat Agrawal, in February, to civil society groups, regulators and platforms.
Agarwal said that following pressure from the U.S., his colleagues have started sending messages via Signal, an encrypted app, rather than email, and many now have messages set to auto-delete, with the “auto-delete timings getting shorter.”
The committee said its subpoenas require that documents are not deleted or modified, and that it expects “full compliance.”
The companies the letters are addressed to are Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Reddit, Rumble, TikTok and X.
