❓WHAT HAPPENED: Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is backing the British government’s Online Safety Act—a censorship law which critics argue stifles free speech and is aimed at harming U.S.-based social media and technology companies—after a blow-up with Reform Party leader Nigel Farage.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Reps. Jamie Raskin, Eric Swalwell, Jasmine Crockett, and Jim Jordan; Nigel Farage, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and British Technology Secretary Peter Kyle.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Raskin’s embrace of the Online Safety Act came during a congressional delegation trip to the UK this week.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We thought there were some very good things in the Online Safety Act…” — Rep. Jamie Raskin
🎯IMPACT: The Democratic Party’s embrace of UK-style censorship is well outside the American legal mainstream regarding free speech rights and appears to be driven almost entirely by Raskin and others’ desire to undermine President Donald J. Trump.
Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is backing Britain’s far-left Labour Party government on the Online Safety Act—a censorship law that stifles free speech and harms U.S.-based social media and technology companies. The Maryland Democrat’s embrace of British censorship came this week as American lawmakers traveled to Great Britain on a congressional delegation led by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).
“We thought there were some very good things in the Online Safety Act, and there might be some problematic things,” Raskin said during an interview with the press in London. The staunchly anti-Trump Democrat added: “I think the intervention of Democrats who don’t have a dog in that fight was maybe too much for [Nigel Farage] to handle, but we did want to make some general points about the freedom of speech.”
Raskin’s reference to Reform Party leader Nigel Farage stemmed from an argument that broke out between Congressional Democrats and the Brexit leader during a meeting with British lawmakers. Farage was responding to off-topic remarks Raskin made, accusing U.S. President Donald J. Trump of being a threat to free speech. Raskin states that Farage injected during his remarks, stating, “We’re not here to talk about Donald Trump.” The Marland Democrat continued: “[Farage] said that I am a guest here, and I should act like a guest. And I told him that he was a host, and he should act like a host.”
House Democrats claim Farage accused Raskin of being “the most pig-headed person he’d ever met,” while Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) alleges, “Farage just looked unhinged and like a giant manbaby.”
For his part, Raskin defended his own outburst by dismissing Farage’s valid concerns regarding his own experience being the target of politically motivated censorship, such as debanking, by stating the incident was an “explosive reaction of one British politician who obviously didn’t want any challenge to his view that he’s a free speech victim.”
Notably, Farage has been the target of political smears because of his pro-British stances. The National Pulse reported earlier this year that Farage successfully resolved his long-standing debanking dispute with NatWest Group, nearly two years after the closure of his accounts at the bank’s Coutts subsidiary. The settlement, which includes an apology from NatWest, brings closure to a saga that led to the resignation of the bank’s former chief executive, Dame Alison Rose, in 2023.
Additionally, Farage was smeared as being “on the side” of pedophiles and extreme pornographers in comments made by British Technology Secretary Peter Kyle over the Reform leader’s pledge to repeal the Online Safety Act. The National Pulse reported Wednesday that the office of the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, approved the remarks by Kyle.
Texas Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, often accused of taking her duties as a lawmaker less than seriously, quipped, “There was a little bit of drama, and somehow it did not involve me or Swalwell.”
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