US President Donald Trump’s administration has instructed US diplomats in Europe to launch a lobbying campaign to build an opposition to the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on US tech companies.

Axar.az reports, citing Reuters, in a State Department cable dated August 4 that was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the agency said the EU was pursuing “undue” restrictions on freedom of expression by its efforts to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation and the DSA was further enhancing these curbs.

The EU’s DSA is a landmark law that is meant to make the online environment safer and fairer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.

The cable, whose headline described it as an “action request”, tasked American diplomats across US embassies in Europe with regularly engaging with EU governments and digital services authorities to convey US concerns about the DSA and the financial costs for US tech companies.

“Posts should focus efforts to build host government and other stakeholder support to repeal and/or amend the DSA or related EU or national laws restricting expression online,” the cable said in its “objective” section, referring to US diplomatic missions.

It provided specific suggestions to US diplomats on how the EU law may be changed and the talking points to help them make that argument.

In March, EU’s antitrust and tech chiefs told US lawmakers that the new tech rule aimed to keep digital markets open and is not targeted at US tech giants.

The Commission has also pushed back against speculation that the 27-member EU’s landmark tech regulatory regime could be included in the EU-US negotiations. “Our legislation will not be changed. The DMA and the DSA are not on the table in the trade negotiations with the US,” Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told a daily news conference.