Platforms Claim U.S. Free Speech to Evade Fines

Some online platforms respond to foreign enforcement by asserting they ‘operate only in the United States’ and invoking the U.S. First Amendment to refuse compliance or payment of fines. This tactic combines a jurisdictional dodge with a constitutional defense to blunt national safety rules and can be accompanied by trolling or symbolic acts (here, an AI‑generated hamster cartoon). — If platforms commonly adopt this posture it weakens national regulators' power, forces new extraterritorial legal fights, and reshapes how countries design enforceable online‑safety regimes.