WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, July 20, 2026, U.S. Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH) spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives about the growing use of technology by governments to suppress information, erase inconvenient truths, and control what people are allowed to see and share.

Using the recent censorship surrounding a deadly crash in Beijing as an example, Davidson warned that the Chinese Communist Party’s system of digital surveillance and information control is no longer confined to China. Similar tools and legal frameworks are increasingly being adopted across the world, threatening free speech, privacy, and individual liberty.

To watch Rep. Davidson’s speech, click HERE, or read his remarks as prepared for delivery below:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Last month, a plane crashed into one of the tallest buildings in Beijing during Friday rush hour. The pilot was killed and 13 people were injured.

This happened in the center of a city of more than 20 million people. Thousands of people nearby saw the plane strike the building. People on the street heard the impact and recorded the aftermath.

In the United States, an event like this would receive wall-to-wall coverage, and videos would spread across social media within minutes. But in Beijing, the government made it nearly impossible for anyone who was not there to even know it happened.

Posts about the crash vanished from Chinese social media, and searches for the building returned only older results. Police prevented people from taking pictures and ordered witnesses to delete footage. Even though China’s national broadcaster sits across the street from the crash site, state media neglected to inform the public what happened.

Because China’s censorship apparatus links police surveillance with telecommunications networks, search engines, social-media platforms, and state-controlled media, it allows authorities to identify and suppress information that could embarrass the Communist Party or undermine their preferred narrative with frightening efficiency.

China has used these methods before. During the 2022 lockdown protests, videos disappeared from Huawei phones without warning, deleting their pictures and videos from their phones and preventing citizens from preserving or sharing what was happening.

George Orwell warned about this sort of coercive power. Now, this dystopian system is even more efficient and powerful with smartphones, search engines, surveillance cameras, and government-controlled platforms. China has shown how effectively this machinery can erase the truth, and other governments are now creating systems that could be used the same way.

The European Union is building the legal and regulatory framework to control online speech across the West. Through the Digital Services Act, regulators can pressure major platforms to remove or suppress content that conflicts with official narratives on elections, public policy, and other political issues. Companies that resist can face penalties tied to their global revenue, giving governments enormous leverage over what people are allowed to see online.

The United Kingdom has incorporated digital ID and is already jailing thousands of its citizens for disfavored speech.

Here in the United States, this was well underway. When Elon Musk bought Twitter, the Biden Administration was working to build a “Disinformation Governance Board” to coordinate their rapidly expanding censorship operations. Orwell called this the “Ministry of Truth”.

Unfortunately, Musk’s ownership of Twitter only exposed the truth. That and the change of administration have not halted the surveillance state here in America. Under the same guise of protecting kids used by the UK, the USA just passed a digital ID bill. Under the guise of banning Central Bank Digital Currency, the United States effectively set a go-live date for 2030. And under the old ruse of security and public safety, Palantir and Flock have an all-seeing eye network expanding around the country.

These are the same types of tools used in China, and the same tools developed by the same companies, in use across Europe.

As James Madison astutely noted in Federalist 51, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” If men were angels, the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would have never been abused, but the abuse was foreseeable because men – even good men – are prone to abuse power. The old maxim: power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely rings true.

Around the world, technology is being turned against the citizens by those in power. A comprehensive system of surveillance, coercion, and control is being built. If you cannot see it, it may already be too late.

Freedom surrendered is rarely reclaimed. With every vote and every dollar, now is the time to insist that good governments defend freedom.

Thank you. I yield back.

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