US plans online portal to circumvent content restrictions in Europe and globally

The United States is preparing to launch an online portal designed to help users in Europe and other regions access content restricted by their governments, according to Reuters.

Sources familiar with the plan say the initiative is framed as an anti-censorship effort. The site is expected to operate under the domain freedom.gov. It had reportedly been scheduled for announcement at last week’s Munich Security Conference, but the launch was delayed.

As part of the project, officials have discussed integrating a VPN feature so that user traffic would appear to originate from the US while user activity itself would not be tracked.

Reuters notes that the move could place Washington in an unusual position. In practice, the US may be seen as encouraging foreign users to bypass their own countries’ laws.

EU regulators have repeatedly pushed platforms to remove illegal content, often imposing significant fines. For example, Elon Musk’s platform X was fined €120 million in December for failing to comply with regulatory requirements.

The portal is being developed with the involvement of Edward Coristine, a former associate in Elon Musk’s circle who now works with the National Design Studio. The freedom.gov domain was registered on January 12.