Four US Republican Congressmen have written to the European Commission demanding a response to the actions of Poland’s centre-left government under Prime Minister Donald Tusk over concerns about online rights of free speech for American citizens and further alleged “undemocratic actions”.
The letter, sent on May 13 to Michael McGrath, the EU’s commissioner for democracy, justice, the rule of law and consumer protection, is signed by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan along with fellow members Darrell Issa, Chris Smith, Warren Davidson and Andy Harris.
The Congressmen explain in the letter, which they made public on May 14, that they are investigating “how and to what extent foreign laws, regulations, and judicial orders compel or coerce companies to censor speech in the United States.”
The letter expresses concern with regards to “recent allegations that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government is weaponising Poland’s justice system to target and censor political opponents.”
🚨 Today, @JudicaryGOP and four other @HouseGOP Members sent a letter to EU Commissioner Michael McGrath requesting a briefing about how the actions of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government might infringe upon Americans’ right to free speech online and what the EU is… pic.twitter.com/1202h2BbYh
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) May 13, 2025
According to the Republican lawmakers, the Tusk government “has pursued legal actions against his government’s political opposition (Conservatives PiS), including party leaders, former officials, and supporters that appear designed to silence and damage the political opposition ahead of Poland’s 2025 presidential election.”
The letter cites stripping the PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, a Brussels Signal report on how one of his staff members died of a heart attack following an interrogation to which her lawyer was denied access, and the prolonged temporary arrest of people associated with PiS, including Catholic priests.
The Republicans have also raised concerns about the targeting of independent media such as conservative channel TV Republika which has had its terrestrial broadcasting licence revoked. The Republicans ask if Tusk’s administration “is upholding the EU’s democratic values and whether it will further attempt to silence its political rivals by using laws like the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) to censor speech that criticises the government.”
Under the DSA, social media platforms are supposed to have in place processes to sanction “misleading or deceptive content” and “disinformation” and the letter authors ask how this will impact American rights to free speech.
According to the letter, the documents in possession of the Judiciary Committee “have revealed that the Tusk government is willing to attempt to censor online content with which it disagrees”.
It cites the example of Poland’s National Research Institute (NRI), within the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which in November 2024 asked TikTok to remove content suggesting that “electric cars are neither ecological nor an economical solution”.
The letter reads: “Although TikTok has thus far resisted the Tusk government’s efforts to have the content removed, the Tusk government’s willingness to seek the removal of this content, alongside the government’s actions against its political opponents, is deeply concerning.”
The Congressmen went on to ask “how the EU plans to implement a new European Democracy Shield, which will address so-called ‘misinformation’ in a manner that will not chill Americans’ free speech rights”.
The letter goes on to argue that “in stark contrast to EU criticism of Poland when PiS was governing, including the European Parliament’s vote to strip conservative Polish members of immunity for merely signalling support for a PiS campaign video, the European Commission does not appear to as readily criticise the Tusk government for its questionable actions”.
The Republican Congressmen called this “double standards” and asked for a “briefing on the EU’s position and actions regarding these troubling developments… to address how the EU is ensuring Prime Minister Tusk’s government is respecting due process, freedom of expression, and the rule of law, as enshrined in EU treaties” and the steps that the European Commission has taken to investigate allegations of politically motivated prosecutions and rule of law violations in Poland since December 2023”.
Since Tusk’s centre-left government took office, it has pursued legal action against PiS officials over alleged crimes committed during the former ruling party’s time in power from 2015 to 2023, when that government was criticised for rule of law violations
However, now the Tusk administration has itself been accused of violating laws and democratic norms with Tusk himself declaring last year that “if we want to restore the constitutional order and the foundations of liberal democracy we will probably make mistakes or commit actions that, according to some legal authorities, will be inconsistent or not fully compliant with the provisions of the law”.
So far, the EC has welcomed the change of government and unlocked Poland’s €137 billion of EU funding that had been frozen when PiS was in power, leading PiS to argue that the funds were unblocked despite the Tusk government implementing no major reforms as a reward for bringing down the PiS government.
PiS has long enjoyed close relations with its fellow conservatives in the US Republican Party, including President Donald Trump, who earlier this month expressed support for the PiS presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki.
