A newly introduced Wyoming bill would allow lawsuits against foreign governments that attempt to censor constitutionally protected speech hosted or conducted within the state.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A bill introduced quietly in the Wyoming Legislature last weekend could mark a significant shift in how U.S. states respond to foreign efforts to regulate or penalize speech protected under the First Amendment.
The proposal, formally titled the Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny and Extortion Act and filed as House Bill 0070, would establish what sponsors describe as the first state-level legal framework designed to counter foreign censorship targeting Americans, American companies, or U.S.-based digital infrastructure.
The measure was introduced by Wyoming state Rep. Daniel Singh, who said the legislation responds to what he characterized as growing attempts by foreign governments to exert authority over speech that occurs entirely within the United States. In remarks accompanying the bill’s introduction, Singh said foreign governments have increasingly acted as if they can “threaten American citizens and American companies for speech that is protected by our Constitution,” adding that Wyoming is “drawing a line in the sand.”
If enacted, the GRANITE Act would create a private right of action allowing Wyoming residents, Wyoming-based businesses, or any U.S. citizen operating servers located in the state to sue foreign governments or foreign state actors that attempt to censor, penalize, or compel the removal of lawful speech. The bill sets statutory damages at a minimum of $1 million per violation or 10 percent of the offending entity’s U.S. revenue, whichever amount is greater.
The legislation would also prohibit Wyoming courts and state agencies from recognizing or enforcing foreign censorship-related actions, including extradition requests, data demands, or investigative cooperation, when those actions are tied to expression protected under the U.S. Constitution. Any state or local assistance in enforcing foreign speech restrictions would be barred under the bill.
The proposal arrives amid a series of disputes between U.S.-based internet platforms and European regulators. Legal experts say those conflicts have intensified as European governments apply domestic and regional laws to global online services.
Preston Byrne, head of legal at the cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain-analysis firm Arkham, said the bill addresses a problem that has emerged as online speech crosses national borders. Byrne has represented American clients, including the online forum 4Chan, in disputes involving European regulators. In one such case, the U.K. media regulator Ofcom demanded fines totaling tens of thousands of pounds, accruing daily, unless information requests were satisfied.
“The GRANITE Act is a tightly tailored response to a very new problem: foreign governments assuming that the transnational nature of the Internet entitles them to govern American speech and conduct conducted wholly and exclusively on American soil,” Byrne said.
He added that the model legislation was developed in response to actions by Ofcom, which he said asserted that U.K. law applied to U.S. citizens operating in the United States and claimed sovereign immunity in connection with enforcement efforts. According to Byrne, the Wyoming bill would clarify that foreign censorship orders have no force within the state, prevent executive cooperation with such orders, and allow affected parties to seek relief in U.S. courts.
Supporters of the bill point to broader European regulatory frameworks, including the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which has expanded content moderation requirements across all 27 EU member states. Byrne and other critics argue that the law has indirect effects on Americans who use global social media platforms, because companies often apply moderation standards uniformly to avoid penalties.
Previous national regulations, such as Germany’s NetzDG law, imposed fines for failure to remove content deemed unlawful under German standards. The later adoption of the EU-wide Digital Services Act increased potential penalties to as much as 6 percent of a company’s global turnover for noncompliance.
According to an April 2024 transparency report filed by X under EU requirements, the platform acted on more than 226,000 of roughly 238,000 content items reported by European authorities during that period, representing a compliance rate of about 95 percent. The report also indicated that a large majority of the platform’s content moderators work primarily in English, despite English being the first language of a small fraction of the EU population.
Supporters of the GRANITE Act argue that such figures suggest foreign regulatory decisions may disproportionately affect English-language speech, including speech originating in the United States.
Byrne said state-level action alone is unlikely to resolve the issue entirely. “We will need changes at the federal level to disapply sovereign immunity for foreign censorship, which is a creation of U.S. federal law,” he said, adding that further congressional action would be necessary.
If passed, the Wyoming measure would be the first of its kind in the United States. Lawmakers backing the bill describe it as an initial step rather than a comprehensive solution, with the potential to serve as a model for other states or future federal legislation addressing cross-border censorship and digital speech protections.
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