Freedom.gov
Planned web portal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freedom.gov is a planned web portal developed by the United States Department of State. The website's purpose is to provide internet users in Europe, China and other unspecified countries with access to content censored by their respective governments.[1] As of March 13, 2026, the service has not launched, with the website displaying a landing page which says "Freedom is coming / Information is power. Reclaim your human right to free expression. Get ready."[2]
Background
A State Department-run program called Internet Freedom, which funded grassroots groups that built technologies to circumvent Internet restrictions in countries such as the PRC, Iran and Venezuela, had its funding cut under DOGE initiatives in the second Trump administration.[3][4]
Vice President JD Vance has criticized Europe for media censorship and content moderation. In January 2026, the European Commission opened an investigation into X (formerly Twitter) over sexually explicit deepfake images.[3]
Overview
The portal was developed[when?] by United States Department of State and is hosted on servers of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Its stated goal is to give people from Europe access to content blocked by their governments, including content classified as hate speech and terrorism.[3] Anonymous sources reported that the portal will have a built-in VPN that will allow users to disguise their traffic as coming from the United States. Other sources reported that activity of the portal's users will not be tracked and that it was made to "counter censorship".[1]
Users, upon visiting the site, will see a motto: "Information is power. Reclaim your human right to free expression. Get ready". The website also features a logo depicting a ghostly horse galloping above the Earth.[3] The creation of the portal was supposed to be announced at Munich Security Conference in February 2026 but was delayed for unknown reasons.[1] The development of the portal's website is overseen by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah B. Rogers.[5]
Reception
Disinformation expert Nina Jankowicz called the website a "propaganda tool", criticizing its ties with CISA,[6] and said it would help Europeans access hate speech, pornography, and child sexual abuse material.[3] Aisha Down of The Guardian said that the censorship the website claims to counter are restrictions on hate speech, outlined in the European Union's Digital Services Act and the United Kingdom's Online Safety Act, which is different than actual internet censorship, such as in Iran and China.[3] Some experts said that the future launch of the portal may escalate U.S.–Europe tensions.[7]
Others see the move as a response primarily to internet censorship in China and Iran.[8]
