Vice President JD Vance accused European leaders of undermining democratic values, criticizing efforts to regulate hate speech and misinformation on social media while singling out Romania’s decision to overturn a presidential election.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Vance pointed to a controversial court ruling that overturned the Romanian vote, attributing it to outside interference. He also pushed back against allegations of Russian meddling in European elections, arguing that if democracy could be compromised by social media ads worth a few hundred thousand dollars, then its foundations were weak to begin with. He dismissed concerns over online influence, referencing “ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation.”
“When I look at Europe today, it’s not clear what happened to some of the Cold War’s winners,” Vance said in Munich.
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is set to dominate discussions on Friday as Vance and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy are scheduled to meet later in the afternoon. Originally planned for the morning, the meeting was rescheduled to after 5 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET), according to a Ukrainian delegation member.
Ukrainian officials have submitted modifications to a U.S. proposal that would grant access to Ukraine’s mineral resources in exchange for $500 billion in weapons and ammunition. The proposal was first presented by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during talks in Kyiv two days ago.
