The European Union has just imposed a fine of 120 million euros on X, formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk’s social network. And there is a war—absolutely a war of civilizations, literally a civilizational choice—unfolding between the United States and Europe.
When Americans look at Europe today, they are shocked by this part of the world …
I sometimes observe conversations between diplomats and businesspeople who come to Europe, and what they see are run-down countries, sinking into poverty, obsessed with climate policy, lecturing the entire world.
Do you know what Americans respect? They respect military and economic power. Countries that possess neither are generally barely listened to. So Europe is running in circles while trying to control the entire planet, especially the United States. And that’s where it no longer works.
To give an example: over the twelve years up to 2022, roughly speaking, the American economy grew by 92%, while the European economy grew by only 6%. We’re simply not in the same league.
Today, when Americans look at European salaries, they feel the same way Europeans once looked at African salaries. They say: “This can’t be real. We’re not living on the same planet. How do these people survive?” Some arrive in Europe and realize: “These people don’t even have air conditioning.” AC has become like running water in some countries—a basic necessity.
But Europe is sinking because it is killing itself with hyper-regulation: Regulation - Prohibition - Control.
Tentacular administrations, states present in every mechanism, even in private life.
Let me give an example: in the United Kingdom today, the poorest regions are poorer than the poorest regions of Bulgaria. That says a lot.
And yet, this country invests to install facial-recognition cameras capable of reading emotions in every village, every street. They deploy cameras while hospitals and schools are crumbling, while everything falls apart—but there are billions to import container loads of cameras and install them.
This is the state of Europe today: quite frightening!
In the United States, there is the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech, and also the Second Amendment in case the first one stops working. There, freedom of speech is not regulated by the state—unlike in Europe, where one only speaks within the boundaries of state-approved ideas.
When I’m in the United States and talk to Americans—even randomly, in the street—they are far more approachable than Europeans. They are extremely educated, highly politicized people who do not mince their words. Whereas in Europe, there is often fear of a neighbor who might report you.
So what is happening now? Europe adopts regulations like the DSA and “Chat Control,” imposed by force. And then Europe wants the entire planet to obey these regulations. Otherwise, it issues fines. Europe writes the law, then uses the law to tax.
A continent that cannot create anything anymore, that missed the AI revolution, overtaken on almost every metric.
Its economic model has become: tax everyone, tax its citizens, as if you could enrich an economy through taxation!
And beyond that: subject everyone to fines. I write a law, and then I tell you, “You didn’t comply—pay.” This model doesn’t work.
Recently, two triggering events occurred on the American side: the fine imposed on X/Twitter, ordered by the EU to pay 120 million euros; and the situation in the United Kingdom, where people are being arrested for WhatsApp posts, even private messages.
A couple criticizing their children’s school in a WhatsApp group was arrested at 6 a.m. Another man posted an image against Hamas (a terrorist organization in the UK): also arrested. The police themselves didn’t even know what Hamas was, but said, “Doesn’t matter—someone might be offended.”
The police have abandoned fighting crime and now chase after public offense.
More and more websites refuse to display content to British users: a digital iron curtain is falling. And it’s not even imposed by London—it’s the whole world trying to avoid dealing with this country.
OFCOM, the UK’s media authority, sends aggressive letters to foreign sites as if British law applied to the entire universe. An outdated imperial logic. Today, the United Kingdom has become a cold, old, damp country where people cannot even afford heating, while still being hit with new “climate” taxes.
In response, the United States is reacting. The Trump administration sent instructions to embassies: check applicants’ profiles and systematically refuse visas to anyone who has worked in censorship, moderation, fact-checking. Even their spouses.
A second response: some states, like Wyoming, are developing laws such as the “Granite Act.” This law states that any foreign entity that threatens a U.S. citizen or business with a fine intended to censor speech can be sued in U.S. courts. The American company may then seek triple damages of the threatened fine, with a minimum of 100 million dollars, for every communication sent.
We are literally witnessing a war of civilizations.
Europe even declared recently that if the United States does not follow its lead on certain issues (like Ukraine), it could “ruin” the United States. Europe wants to ruin Russia, China, the United States… everyone. This belligerence has become a ridicule.
With countries indebted, ruined, deindustrialized, and demoralized, it is hard to imagine Europe setting out again to conquer the world as it once did.