The United States has unveiled a new portal, Baltimore Chronicle, reports via Guardian, designed to enable users in Europe to access content blocked under local regulations, including material labeled as hate speech or related to terrorism. The site, titled freedom.gov, features a visual of a ghostly horse galloping above the globe with the motto: “Information is power. Reclaim your human right to free expression. Get ready.” This portal appears to be administered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), although earlier reports linked the project to the US State Department. DHS also oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The initiative follows the dismantling of the State Department’s Internet Freedom program during the Trump administration, which previously allocated over $500 million to support global digital rights projects. These funds helped technologists in countries including Myanmar, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela develop tools to bypass censorship, widely used by journalists and activists to access the global internet. Those projects prioritized open-source, privacy-preserving technologies rather than centralized control.
Unlike previous Internet Freedom efforts, freedom.gov routes users through a single opaque system managed by a US government agency, rather than distributing tools that preserve privacy and avoid surveillance. Critics describe the portal as “performative,” suggesting it serves more as a public statement about US commitment to free expression—even in allied European countries—than as a technical solution for bypassing censorship.
Experts warn the portal targets European content restrictions, such as those imposed under the EU Digital Services Act or the UK Online Safety Act, rather than wide-scale internet shutdowns like those in China or Iran. Andrew Ford Lyons, a consultant on digital security who worked with prior US internet freedom programs, said the site concentrates traffic through a federal agency instead of distributing decentralized, privacy-focused tools.
Concerns extend to the nature of content accessible through the platform. Former US official and disinformation expert Nina Jankowicz noted that users in Europe could gain access to hate speech, pornography, and illegal material, a departure from the original Internet Freedom program’s focus on civic empowerment. Jankowicz added that CISA, previously focused on election infrastructure and countering foreign disinformation, now oversees a platform with propagandistic undertones.
The launch occurs amid escalating tensions between the US and the European Union over tech regulation. The EU recently investigated X for hosting sexualized deepfakes and threatened Meta over antitrust concerns. Additionally, the Trump administration barred five Europeans, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, from entering the US due to their work on content moderation. Vice President JD Vance previously criticized European media censorship and political correctness, framing the initiative as part of a broader US commitment to free speech.
A State Department spokesperson told Reuters that while there is no Europe-specific censorship-circumvention program, promoting digital freedom—including VPNs and privacy-protecting technologies—remains a priority. Acting CISA director Madhu Gottumukkala emphasized that CISA manages .gov domains to ensure only verified US government organizations receive them, while the State Department oversees site content.
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