A delegation from the US Congress has visited Dublin and warned that US companies could pull back on investment in the European Union over what the members described as excessive regulation.
The members, led by Chair of the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan, met Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne and media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, as well as with representatives from Apple and Meta.
The delegation also visited Brussels and London in recent days.
Congressman Scott Fitzgerald said the US companies they have met are very frustrated that they are being “overregulated”.
“America innovates, China replicates and Europe regulates,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“The EU is underestimating the level of frustration these companies are expressing and it could force them to pull back on the amount of business that they are doing here in Europe.”
Mr Jordan said that during the meeting with Coimisiún na Meán Executive Chair Jeremy Godfrey, the delegation expressed concerns that US companies are being overregulated.
“We heard from Mr Godfrey the same argument we’ve heard from everyone else, that they are for free expression and that they follow the direction of the EU.
“When we are with the EU, they talk about the 27 member states having their own way of doing things.
“So there is a back and forth – EU to Dublin, Dublin to EU – but who is really in charge?
“It seems like two layers of bureaucracy that, in our judgement, are infringing on speech and are harmful to American companies,” Mr Jordan said.
In a post on LinkedIn, Coimisiún na Meán said that it spoke about the critically important role that independent regulation plays in upholding everyone’s fundamental rights online, including freedom of expression, in Ireland and across the EU.
“We also discussed our work to ensure that online platforms protect the privacy, safety and security of children and young people and the responsibility these platforms have to prevent their services from being used to spread terrorist and extremist content,” the commission said.
